PTI MNA : '' Damning remarks ''

DAILY TIMES

In a particularly embarrassing moment for the second largest opposition party in the country, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) will have to bear the repercussions of the remarks made by PTI MNA Mujahid Ali, who demanded on the floor of the National Assembly in his maiden speech the ‘honourable’ release of murderer Mumtaz Qadri. Mumtaz Qadri is in jail, awaiting his appeal verdict against his death sentence for the cold-blooded murder of then governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer on January 4, 2011. That any sane person, let alone a member of the National Assembly, would harbour and make vocal such a dastardly demand is beyond belief. Mumtaz Qadri has been sentenced to death by the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) and his appeal is lying before the Islamabad High Court (IHC). It is extremely disturbing to see that there are members of the National Assembly who belong to the same mind frame as the lawyers who literally showered Qadri with rose petals. No doubt, Mr Mujahid’s sentiments have left the PTI leadership reeling and finding it difficult to recover from such an embarrassing gaffe. In an effort at damage control, the PTI leadership, including its chairman Imran Khan, has reprimanded the MNA for his thoughtless statement and said that no one can make such ‘damaging’ statements on the floor of the house. The leadership has also stated that it sides with the courts on this matter. However, what the PTI failed to mention was its complete and utter condemnation of the despicable remarks. Why did the party not take stern action after its General Secretary Dr Arif Alvi got up belatedly in the house to lamely argue that the demand was the ‘personal’ view of the MNA and not the party’s policy? If the party sides with the law then it should also side with common sense and humanity where a murderer is punished and his crime is not glorified. The IHC, in its own right, needs to stop the delays in finalisation of the verdict of the appeal, which should be nothing less than what the ATC has deemed fit for Qadri, a self-confessed cowardly murderer who violated not only the law of the land and humanity, he betrayed his trust as a guardian of the late Governor. He murdered the Governor in cold blood by emptying his magazine into his back and must be punished. The PTI leadership and its members would do well to remember that sympathy for such criminals would not sit well with the majority of levelheaded Pakistanis who really do hope for a ‘new’ Pakistan.