• Regrets detained party workers neither being tried nor produced before any court
• 61pc of water sources in 29 main cities ‘unsafe’ for drinking, NA told

ISLAMABAD: Decrying alleged political victimisation, a PTI lawmaker on Thursday urged Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa to expedite the case regarding the military trial of the suspects involved in the May 9 incidents of arson and violence, stating the future of a number of detained educated youth is at stake.

The demand was made by PTI MNA from Malakand, Junaid Akbar, while speaking on a point of order on an uneventful and dull day in the National Assembly as Shehla Raza, who was presiding over the sitting in the absen-ce of the speaker and his deputy, dragged the proceedings by generously giving floor to members to raise issues of their choice.

Referring to the incidents of May 9 last year, Mr Akbar said a number of his party workers, mostly educated youth, had been in detention for the past 18 months as their cases are pending trial in military courts. He alleged that false cases had been registered against the PTI workers.

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“It has been more than a year now. Neither they are being tried, nor they are being presented before any court,” he said, adding that these detained people were not even being granted bail.

He said that most of the arrested youth were poor students and their academic year was being wasted.

“I appeal to the SC and the government through you [the chair] to abolish the false FIRs and grant bails [to the suspects]”, he said.

Another PTI MNA, Rana Atif, challenged the government’s claim regarding reduction in inflation and termed such claims against reality.

He wondered if inflation had come down, why interest rates were not coming down. He also castigated the government over inflated power bills.

A number of lawmakers, including from those sitting on the treasury benches, protested over the absence of ministers from the proceedings.

Shehla Raza also exp­re­s­­sed annoyance over the absence of ministers, stating that someone should have been present in the house to respond to the points being raised by lawmakers.

During the question hour, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq reprimanded the water resources secretary for not responding to a question that had been pending for the last session. Minister Musaddik Malik apologised on behalf of his ministry, but the speaker ordered the secretary to appear in his chamber.

Unsafe drinking water

Earlier, the National Assembly was informed through a written reply to a question by PML-N’s Tahira Aurangzeb that the National Water Quality Monitoring (2022-23) undertaken in 29 main cities of the country revealed that 61 per cent of the water sources were unsafe for drinking, mainly due to microbial contamination.

According to the report, there are three cities where 100pc water is contaminated and not safe for drinking. These cities are Mir­purkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad and Gilgit.

Shaheed Benazirabad is the home constituency of President Asif Ali Zardari whose party has been ruling the province continuously for the past 15 years.

The name of this city was also present in a similar report which had been presented before the National Assembly some three years ago.

Based on the number of samples collected, the cities where more than 50pc drinking water sources were found unsafe due to microbial or chemical contamination are Bahawalpur (76pc), Faisalabad (59pc), Multan (94pc), Sargodha (83pc), Sheikhu­pura (60pc), Abbottabad (55pc), Khuzdar (55pc), Loralai (59pc), Quetta (65pc), Hyderabad (80pc), Karachi (93pc), Sukkur (67pc), Badin (92pc), Tando Allahyar (57pc) and Muzaffarabad (70pc).

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2024