Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Babar Nawaz Khan and Parliamentary Secretary for National Food Security and Research Shaista Khan on Tuesday raised the case of five-year-old Ayat Noor in the National Assembly.
Speaking in the house, both lawmakers expressed grief over the alleged sexual assault and killing of the five-year-old girl, who had been missing for 15 days. Shaista Khan said no statement had been issued by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Khan Afridi on the issue.
She said the child’s body was found on Monday (August 24), adding that the incident had once again left them deeply saddened and tearful.
Shaista Khan said she had hoped that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would take notice of the case, but no statement had been issued by the chief minister. “I request you from this floor that today another daughter of the nation was brutally murdered,” she said. Babar Nawaz also referred to the case of Ayat Noor. He said the National Assembly had previously played its role through the Standing Committee on Human Rights in the Zainab case, while then Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also pursued the matter.
Babar Nawaz appealed to the National Assembly to stand with the people of Haripur and support the family of Ayat Noor. “Today, Haripur is looking towards all of you. Stand with us and become the companions of these oppressed people,” he said. He also called for a separate province for the Hazara region, saying its people no longer wanted to remain under the existing provincial setup. Babar Nawaz Khan said the people of the region wanted a separate administrative unit and province.
“We need a separate unit and a separate province. We do not want to live with them,” he said.
He said if the authorities genuinely cared about the people of the area, they would at least have attended the funeral of Ayat Noor.
Babar Nawaz said the area was among the most peaceful regions.
