Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: A Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights hearing descended into a heated exchange between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Abid Sher Ali and Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Aimal Wali Khan on Wednesday during questioning of Suthra Punjab officials over the suicide of a sanitary worker in Gujranwala.
The committee, chaired by Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, was examining the case of a Gujranwala Waste Management Company employee who took his own life, reportedly after receiving half his salary and having his contract terminated. Khan was pressing Suthra Punjab officials with pointed questions when Ali objected to the tone of questioning, saying, “Listen to them — you are conducting an inquiry and asking questions as if you are sitting in a police station.”
When a committee member suggested cameras be turned off, Ali said he did not care and was saying nothing wrong. “Speak properly,” Ali told Khan. “I am speaking properly — you speak properly too,” Khan shot back. Senator Qurratulain Marri and other committee members stepped in to mediate between the two.
The committee heard that the deceased worker had been employed by the Gujranwala Waste Management Company and had worked from 2024 to 2025. The CEO of GWMC told the committee the worker was no longer employed by the institution at the time of the incident, saying his contract had ended on May 31 and the suicide occurred after the contract’s expiry.
Senator Mussarur Hassan asked officials whether they had recorded the worker’s audio and video before his death, and even asked directly, “Did you kill him?”
Khan said the worker had been receiving half his salary before taking his life, and accused the officials of pushing him to this extreme. “A common labourer was pushed to the point where he took his own life,” he said.
The CEO said the company had checked all bank records and the worker had been receiving his salary, while also noting the worker had performance issues.
Senator Qurratulain Marri raised questions about why a third party had been engaged to provide cleaning staff for Suthra Punjab rather than direct hiring, and pointed out an apparent contradiction — the Suthra Punjab Act came into force in 2026 but the incident occurred in 2025, questioning how recruitment had been done before the institution formally existed.
Khan echoed this, asking how hiring had taken place in 2025 when the institutions were only established in 2026.
The CEO of GWMC said compensation had been provided to the worker’s widow and children, including a plot purchased with the involvement of a chamber and other parties. When Khan asked why the plot was given if the worker was not even employed at the time, he remarked sharply, “If you give me a plot too, I will also be happy.”
Officials also alleged the worker had personal issues that contributed to the decision. Khan rejected this, saying, “You casually made an allegation that there was a love affair involved in why he died.”
The committee directed Suthra Punjab to immediately provide copies of the relevant laws for both 2025 and 2026, and questioned whether the institution had also conducted any redressal process beyond providing a plot.
