Senate panel on Human rights to visit Quetta | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Senate panel on Human rights to visit Quetta

By: Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD: Members of the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights will arrive in Quetta on Sept 26 to review the law and order situation in Balochistan with focus on the recent incidents of sectarian killings, Dawn has learnt.

The 11-member committee headed by Senator Afrasiab Khattak of Awami National Party is also scheduled to visit Central Jail in Quetta during their two-day stay in the city. The committee members will hold meetings in the office of the chief secretary to know “the reasons for not stopping the genocide of Hazara community in Balochistan,” says the meeting agenda.

The members will also meet families of the Hazara community and relatives of those who had been killed in incidents of sectarianism. The committee was scheduled to undertake the visit on Tuesday, but it was delayed on the request of the Balochistan government for unspecified reasons.

Prime Minister’s Adviser on Human Rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar is also expected to visit Quetta with the Senate committee comprising members from parties having representation in the upper house.

Political heavyweights like chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and PPP leader Senator Raza Rabbani, PML-Q’s secretary general Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Khan Babar, PML-N’s information secretary Mushahidullah Khan and Nasreen Jalil of MQM are among the members of the committee.

The other members are: Suriya Amiruddin, Sardar Ali Khan and Farhat Abbas of PPP, Dr Farogh Naseem of MQM, Kamran Michael of PML-N and Ghulam Ali of JUI-F.

Dawn