Raja Nasir Abbas moves privilege motion against Bhara Kahu SHO in Senate

ISLAMABAD: Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas on Tuesday submitted a privilege motion in the upper house against the station house officer of Islamabad’s Bhara Kahu police station, accusing him of discourteous and disrespectful conduct during an incident at a checkpoint.

The motion followed an episode a day earlier in which a delegation of opposition leaders was stopped by Islamabad police while attempting to travel to Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The group was headed by National Assembly Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai and included former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and Abbas. The delegation had intended to show solidarity with demonstrators taking part in a sit-in in Rawalakot.

According to the privilege motion, a copy of which was available with Dawn, Abbas said Bhara Kahu SHO Sub-inspector Naeemul Hassan stopped him from proceeding to his residence at a checkpoint. Abbas stated that his home was about 2 kilometres from the point where he was intercepted and that he had identified himself and explained why he needed to continue.

In the motion, Abbas said police officials, along with a large contingent of personnel, stopped his vehicle and treated him in what he described as a discourteous manner. He said the officer did not accept his explanation and failed to extend what Abbas called the courtesy due to a member of Parliament.

“He approached my vehicle and, in a rude and discourteous manner, directed that I could not proceed further. Despite this, the SHO neither paid heed to my explanation nor extended the courtesy due to a member of Parliament. Instead, he continued to behave in an insulting and disrespectful manner,” he informed.

Abbas argued that the conduct of the SHO and accompanying personnel obstructed him in the discharge of his duties and amounted to disrespect towards a member of the Senate. He said such behaviour constituted a breach of the privileges of the House and of one of its members.

In the motion, Abbas asked that the matter be sent to the Privileges Committee and sought legal as well as disciplinary action against the police officer concerned.

Separately, former senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar had alleged that Abbas was also prevented from reaching his residence in Bhara Kahu and had to continue on foot after authorities stopped his vehicle from moving ahead.