PESHAWAR: Treasury and opposition members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday condemned the police and paramilitary Rangers’ “attack” on the KP House in Islamabad on October 6 and agreed to form a special committee of the house to look into the matter.

“The 11-member committee will be led by Munir Hussain Laghmani,” law minister Aftab Alam Afridi told the session chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati.

On Oct 6, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur surfaced in Peshawar after a mysterious daylong disappearance to address lawmakers about events, which transpired before he vanished into thin air.

Mr Gandapur had claimed that he was present at the KP House as the Islamabad police and Rangers attacked it. He had asked chief of the capital’s police Ali Nasir Rizvi to apologise for the raid.

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During Monday’s PA session, Speaker Swati said the leader of the opposition had suggested the formation of a parliamentary committee, instead of a judicial commission, to probe the KP House incident.

He said the governments functioned sensibly but the federal government acted irresponsibly by virtually severing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Islamabad by sealing the KP House.

“The federal government is creating barriers for us by restricting access to KP House in Islamabad. Does it want to deal with us [KP] like a foreign entity?”

Leader of the Opposition PML-N member Dr Ibadullah complained that the chief minister didn’t implicate anyone beyond Islamabad police’s chief.

“He [Gandapur] neither named the establishment and any army general in his allegations nor will he ever do so,” he said.

Dr Ibadullah wondered why the provincial government was silent on the handover of the erstwhile Fata House to the Inter-Services Intelligence after receiving a phone call from the former spymaster, retired general Faiz Hameed.

He alleged that the ruling PTI staged protests in Islamabad during the visit of the Chinese president and ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

The opposition leader said it was the PTI government, which passed a law in parliament to declare the act of defaming armed forces and its officers a criminal offence.

“That is now the law of the land and you [PTI lawmakers] have taken an oath to protect it, but today, you are going against it,” he said.

Dr Ibadullah condemned the sealing of the KP House in Islamabad and said he would raise voice against the act.

“This [the raid] could be an individual’s act. The federal government will never do so,” he said.

The opposition leader appreciated the army’s leadership for arresting a former ISI chief over his alleged involvement in politics and demanded action against all other such officials.

He said no one “abducted” the chief minister in Islamabad and “resurfaced” after brief disappearance as he did in the past.

The speaker said the erstwhile Fata House was built from KP’s money, so the law minister should give details of its handover to ISI.

He wondered if the government had planned to lodge an FIR over the “illegal attack” on the KP House in Islamabad.

Law minister Afridi said the ruling PTI wasn’t opposed to talks with the powers-that-be, but it was not currently possible.

He said the establishment got police cases registered against PTI founder Imran Khan only after it failed to “manage” him.

The minister accused the federal government of trying to set up a parallel court through a constitutional amendment and said the proposed move would be a direct attack on the independence of the judiciary.

He added that the proposed constitutional amendment would allow horse-trading in parliament.

Mr Afridi said the draft bill was meant to allow transfer and postings among high courts and thus, allowing the federal government to eliminate dignified judges from key positions.

He said that the PTI was looking to its jailed founder, Imran Khan, for a sit-in call.

The minister said the KP House was more sacred for the provincial government than any corps commander or Jinnah House, so the attack on it would be avenged.

Lawmaker of the opposition PML-N Rashad Khan criticised the chief minister for “failing to protect KP House” and said Mr Gandapur himself appeared insecure.

He wondered why the ruling PTI didn’t call a multi-party conference to discuss the raid.

Mr Khan said KP House was sealed, while the provincial cabinet’s members were attacked, but the chief minister was not present in the house to discuss the issue.

Iqbal Wazir of the PTI-Parliamentarians said he was never pressured for leaving the PTI and he did so by himself.

He alleged that the PTI was involved in the May 9 riots.

The house later adopted a joint resolution, lauding Iranian missile attack on Israel and condemning the Israeli aggression against Palestinians.

Another resolution condemned Israel over the massacre of Palestinians and demanded immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2024