ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan appears to be determined not to apologise to the opposition in Senate for allegedly providing wrong data to the house on Oct 30 about deaths in terrorism-related incidents.

The interior minister has written a letter to Senate Chairman Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, requesting the latter to be a judge in the case.

Although Chaudhry Nisar explained that the figures had been provided by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and he could get them rechecked, the opposition insisted that the data be withdrawn.

The opposition members have been boycotting the proceedings, insisting that the minister should apologise and withdraw his answers. They say the minister is responsible for the ongoing tension.

Chaudhry Nisar in his letter to the Senate chairman, who was presiding over the session on that particular day, has highlighted that he did not utter a single un-parliamentary word, did not challenge or obstruct the chair, hurled no threat at anybody nor disrupted the proceedings of the house. But “such a lot of confusion has been created and so much distortion of the truth has taken place at my expense that I am bringing the recorded proceedings of the house to your notice once again and simultaneously releasing it to the press to clear the web of fallacy and the distortion of truth that has openly and blatantly taken place”. He urged the chairman to make the video recording of the proceedings public so that all Pakistanis could see with their own eyes what actually took place and who said what. “I would request you to assess and judge for yourself as to who is making the Senate hostage to their whims, who created pandemonium in the house and who refused to take their seats in spite of your repeated directions/orders.”

Chaudhry Nisar also asked Mr Bokhari to decide if he used a single un-parliamentary word during the entire proceedings, confront the chair even for a second or refused to sit down when asked, passed a single snide or personal remark against anybody or refused to cross-check or verify the information provided by the KP government.

“I am not confronting anybody, I am not fighting anybody, but I will fight till my last breath in defence of the truth and what is right.”

The interior minister pointed out that two sentences attributed to him — “look at your attitude” and “don’t shout at me”, which he made in response to Raza Rabbani’s ‘provocative’ and ‘unwarranted’ remarks, could not be made part of the record, since they were made while sitting down and under the rules of business only the statements on the mike are considered part of the proceedings and record.