The federal government and the PTI were at loggerheads in the National Assembly on Friday as the latter claimed “not enough” was being done to provide relief to those affected by the recent floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and boycotted the session over the disqualification of its lawmakers.
Record rains in KP, which started on August 15, have wreaked havoc across the province. The provincial government declared an emergency as torrential rains ravaged homes, displaced families, and left a trail of destruction across Buner, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra, and beyond.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan expressed his dissatisfaction with the help provided by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to the flood-affected population of KP, particularly Buner — the worst-hit area in the province — stating that the authority “did not help as much as it should have”.
“I say at this forum that we will continue to be at odds with the NDMA,” Gohar said on the floor. “I said the day-before-yesterday that the NDMA only gave us a few supplies in Buner, while 236 people have been killed, 120 are injured, and 1,470 shops and 875 homes have been destroyed.”
Gohar was interrupted by Law and Human Rights Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, terming the PTI leader’s complaint as “politics just for the sake of politics” and urging the party to focus on people’s issues.
The law minister explained that disaster response has three tiers.
“There is a district disaster management authority, which the province’s deputy commissioners run; then there is the provincial disaster management authority, which is also run by the province,” Tarar said.
“The NDMA centres around information sharing. I will provide a detailed explanation, but if the opposition asks questions for the sake of politics and then walks out, then I don’t know what assembly we are sitting in.”
Speaker Ayaz Sadiq termed it “highly regrettable” that PTI leaders complain of not being allowed to speak despite Gohar and PTI stalwart Asad Qaiser having spoken on several occasions.
When Gohar began his speech, Sadiq offered to arrange a visit for the opposition to the NDMA’s head office.
Speaking later during the session, Tarar said that Rs1.3 billion had been released to the NDMA for flood relief and other activities.
“The nation needs to work together for flood relief,” the minister said on the floor of the National Assembly. “The federal government is working with provinces on relief operations.
The minister added that the NDMA releases alerts and has a mobile app.
“We recommend that those in affected areas download the app; 92 per cent of predictions are accurate,“ he said.
“Relief has a long way to go, so we ask that the nation stand with and help those affected by floods,” Tarar said.
Ready to sit and talk on Balochistan: Tallal Chaudhry
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Interior Affairs Tallal Chaudhry expressed the federal government’s willingness to sit with Balochistan’s leadership and political representatives for talks on the issue of missing persons.
Stating that the government had zero tolerance for any issues about the matter, the minister said, “No institution wants to be blamed nor [wants] that any agency displace people outside of the law — this cannot happen.”
Chaudhry noted that a Balochistan National Party-Mengal rally in Quetta, where a suicide bombing took place earlier this week, took place without security clearance from the interior ministry.
He said political gatherings were soft targets for terrorists, which is why the government insisted that programmes of such type needed security clearance.
The state minister also said the government, himself and the district administration were in contact with the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, which is participating in an ongoing sit-in in Islamabad. However, he did not mention the group by name, nor who he was in contact with.
The group is protesting for the release of remanded group members, including chief convener Dr Mahrang Baloch.
He said women from Balochistan, calling them “our sisters and daughters”, were protesting in front of the Islamabad Press Club and the government was accused of ignoring them.
“This is not the case. They are our daughters, although they are protesting on a very important road and attempts are being made to provide them security and facilitate them despite court orders and legislation about protests from this house.”
He said the government was trying to handle the situation legally, but “unfortunately, a lot of people are going to the protest for photo sessions.”
Chaudhry alleged that the protest was “held hostage by a few women and people who used it for their own personal point scoring”.
Despite that, he said that the government was open to talks and multiple people had contacted them, but the reason for no conclusion as of yet was “many demands that the government cannot fulfil”, adding that it could not release people on bail who were under trial in the courts.