ISLAMABAD:Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan Friday informed the National Assembly that investigation into the Sialkot tragedy, claimed life of an innocent Sri Lankan national, was in its final phase.
“Accused of the Sialkot tragedy have been arrested. The investigation is in final phase, following which a challan will be submitted before the respective anti-terrorism court for the trial. The law gives the court a seven-day time to dispose of the case at the earliest,” he said while initiating debate on the tragedy.
Earlier, the adviser put a motion before the House to suspend other agenda items to hold a debate on the unfortunate incident, which was adopted unanimously.
Strongly condemning the unfortunate incident, Dr Babar Awan said it raised questions on the ‘global face’ of Pakistan and there was the need to prevent such incidents in future.
He asked both Houses of the Parliament, the National Assembly and the Senate, to remove certain flaws from the criminal laws by bringing necessary amendments so that the cases could be disposed of at the earliest. “For this purpose, all stakeholders will have to play their due role.”
He said some cases of Army Public School tragedy, Zainab, Motorway and Noor Muqadam cases were still pending, which showed that there were flaws in the criminal laws.
He stressed the need for encouraging police to conduct investigations in the cases assigned to them to bring culprits to the task without any undue delay.
Senior leader of the PML-N, Ahsan Iqbal also condemned the Sialkot incident and suggested holding the debate on Monday as the House lacked the required quorum. Following which, Dr Darshan pointed out the quorum that led to the adjournment of the House till Monday, 4 pm.