According to the SHO’s actions, the police officers who accompanied him constituted a “blatant act of disrespect towards a member of the Senate”
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and Deputy Leader of Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e ain Pakistan, Allama Raja Nasir Abbas. SCREENSHOT
ISLAMABAD:
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Raja Nasir Abbas, on Monday filed a privilege motion against the Station House Officer (SHO) of Barakahu, alleging that he was prevented from reaching his residence and treated in a “rude and discourteous manner” at a police checkpoint, it was learned on Tuesday.
The motion was tabled a day after a high-level delegation of the Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen Pakistan (TTAP), led by Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Mahmood Khan Achakzai, was stopped by police from traveling to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) after announcing plans to join an ongoing sit-in in Rawalakot. The police officers said they had received orders from their “senior officers” not to allow the delegation to continue.
The delegation included Abbas, former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, TTAP spokesperson Hussain Ahmad Yousafzai and Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry, lawyer of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan.
The motion, dated June 29 and submitted in accordance with the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Senate and addressed to Senate President Yousaf Raza Gillani, accuses Sub-Inspector (SI) Naeem-ul-Hassan of SHO Barakahu Police Station of committing “breach of privilege”.
According to the petition, Abbas was on his way to his residence in Satra Meel, Islamabad, around 5:30 p.m. when he found that the road had been blocked by police at a checkpoint in Barakahu.
The senator alleged that SI Naeem-ul-Hassan, accompanied by a large number of policemen, approached his vehicle and “in a rude and discourteous manner” informed him that he could not proceed.
Read: TTAP claims police stopped delegation from traveling to AJK to participate in sit-in
The motion said Abbas identified himself as the opposition leader in the Senate and informed the officer that he was going to his residence, located about 2 kilometers from the checkpoint.
“Despite this,” the motion states, “the SHO failed to heed my explanations or show the courtesy due to a Member of Parliament. Instead, he continued to behave in an insulting and disrespectful manner.”
The Opposition Leader argued that the actions of the SHO and the police officers who accompanied him constituted “an obstruction of the exercise of my duties and an act of blatant disrespect towards a member of the Senate”.
“Such conduct constitutes a violation of the privileges of the House and its members,” the motion states.
Abbas requested that the matter be referred to the Senate Privileges Committee for “appropriate disciplinary and legal action” against the officer concerned for allegedly violating the privileges of the Senate and one of its members.
