ISLAMABAD, December 19: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) sought on Monday an emergency session of Parliament after a senior judge slammed the country’s top law enforcement official for holding meetings with leaders of banned militant groups.
The move by Imran Khan’s led party is set to put the government under added pressure as it fights Panama Papers corruption case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Last week a report by Supreme Court Justice Qazi Isa into a suicide bombing of a Quetta hospital in August that killed 73 people strongly criticised the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government for failing to implement anti-terror policies.
It singled out Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for holding meetings with Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) chief Maulana
Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi.
Ludhianvi heads the political wing of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militant group, which claimed the hospital attack along with the Islamic State.
The two groups jointly also claimed an attack on a police academy in October that killed 61 people and one on a shrine that killed 52 in November. All three attacks were in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
“The report has raised the issue of the Interior Ministry inviting and holding meetings with leaders of banned militant organisations,” a statement by the PTI said.
The speaker of parliament will now decide whether to accept the request for a special meeting to debate the report.
However, the interior minister has described the growing criticism as “one-sided”.-Agencies
