Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Female legislators of Lower House of Parliament from the treasury benches voiced support for State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar after Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) MNA Abdul Akbar Chitrali criticized her on the recent Afghanistan visit. Chitrali, however, offered an apology for his remarks about Khar on the floor of the National Assembly, saying his comments were taken in a negative context as he did not mean what his colleagues understood.
The JI lawmaker said that he was not against any female minister, but he believed that the government should have included some tribal elders in the Khar-led delegation that visited Afghanistan. The MNA claimed that the state minister was sent to the neighboring country, but it had no favorable impact. Chitrali said that Pakistan’s consulate in Afghanistan was attacked by terrorists after Khar’s visit. “Such attacks from Afghanistan’s border are currently taking place on a daily basis.”
He proposed sending a delegation to Afghanistan to investigate the causes of cross-border violence. The JI leader raised a question as to who are the people who want to widen the divide as Pakistan and Afghanistan are two brotherly countries. In response, Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation.
