ISLAMABAD – Shehbaz Sharif, the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, on Monday demanded the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the Murree incident in which 23 tourists died after being trapped in their cars on roads due to heavy snowfall.
He was addressing the fresh session of the National Assembly where discussion on the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021, has been postponed till tomorrow (Tuesday) to discuss the Murree tragedy.
The opposition leader lashed out at the government for showing criminal negligence in handling the events that led to tragedy in the Punjab’s resort town.
He lamented that vehicles were snowed-in but no administration was there to rescue them for 20 hours, adding: “When the heart-wrenching incident was happing Punjab chief minister was busy in PTI meeting on local government elections”.
“People kept crying for help but no one reached out to them. This was criminal negligence and inefficiency that cannot be pardoned. When the Met Office had predicted excessive snowfall, what measures did the government take?”
“If tourists were flocking to the hill station, what measures did the government take to bar them, he asked. “Was a red alert issued?.”
Finance czar Shaukat Tarin was set to table the controversial bills in the National Assembly for voting. The voting is part of the 49-point agenda for the session released by the assembly secretariat.
The placement of the mini-budget was expected to trigger disturbance in the lower house as the joint opposition is set to thwart government effort.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Sunday approved Pakistan’s request to reschedule the Executive Board’s meeting set to take place January 12. Islamabad requested the Fund to defer the meeting till the end of January so that two bills can be passed from the Parliament.
Govt tables IMF-mandated mini-budget in Senate amid opposition protest
The approval of the mini-budget is needed to ensure the sixth review of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility gets cleared by the IMF’s Executive Board which is scheduled to meet on January 12 to decide the disbursement of about $1bn tranche.
