National Assembly expresses dismay over shooting in Texas killing ten including Sabika Sheikh

The National Assembly Thursday passed a resolution expressing its deep dismay over the shooting incident at Santa Fe, Texas in the United States which claimed the lives of ten students including a Pakistani girl Sabika Sheikh.

It was moved by PPP’s Shazia Marri. The resolution expressed heartfelt condolences to the family of Sabika Sheikh.

Sabika Sheikh was laid to rest on Wednesday at Karachi's Azeempura graveyard after her body was brought here early morning from the United States. Earlier, her funeral prayers were also offered in the US city of Texas where her host mother and family were also present.

Earlier, the house offered fateha for those martyred in recent acts of unprovoked firing by Indian troops on the line of control and the working boundary.

The National Assembly also passed a resolution strongly condemning the recent acts of unprovoked firing by Indian troops on the line of control and the working boundary which resulted in the martyrdom of a number of people.

The resolution was moved by Suriya Asghar. In the resolution, it was demanded of the government to extend necessary assistance to the victim families.

In another matter, while responding to the points of Shah Mehmood Qureshi of PTI, Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique said the political leadership needs to demonstrate maturity and refrain from steps that stoke intolerance and chaos in the society. He said the difference of opinion is the beauty of democratic system but we should not spread hatred.

He said his party is not in favor of the disqualification of any political figure be it Jehangir Tareen of PTI or any other leader.

He said that the name of former President Parvez Musharraf was removed from the ECL following the court’s order. He said despite the abusive language used by the PTI leadership during the sit-in, the mandate of the PTI’s members was protected and their resignations were not accepted.

The house has passed five bills. These included: The Banks (Nationalization) (Amendment) Bill, 2018, the Investment Corporation of Pakistan (Repeal) Bill, 2018, The SBP Banking Services Corporation (Amendment) bill 2017, The Loans for Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Purposes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and The Joint Maritime Information Organization Bill, 2018.

Minister of State for Finance Rana Afzal Khan laid before the house the second quarterly report of the Board of Directors of State Bank of Pakistan on the State of the country’s economy for the year 2017-18.