ISLAMABAD: The legislators in Upper House of parliament on Thursday demanded formation of a judicial commission to probe Faizabad sit-in, which according to them was a well-planned conspiracy to weaken the democratic government. In a discussion on the situation arising out of the recent sit-in at Faizabad interchange in Islamabad through an adjournment motion moved by Farhatullah Babar, Saeedul Hassan Mandokhail and Sehar Kamran, the opposition senators maintained that the recent dharna was just the continuation of the previous sit-in held in D-Chowk. They questioned that why the government would give space to others to interfere in the democratic setup. Some senators termed the sit-in total failure of the PML-N government. However, both ruling and opposition members were of the view that distribution of money through uniformed persons among the protestors clearly showed that someone else brought them to Faizabad. The ruling senators also lambasted the opposition for not standing with the government to find an amicable solution of the issue. Speaking on the occasion, Senator Farhatullah Babar called for a judicial probe into the dharna that culminated in, what he said, a one-page ‘national document of surrender’ and setting up of a dangerous precedent of holding the state and society hostage through a gun and stick wielding mob of few hundreds. He said it needs to be probed as to how the protesters came all the way from Lahore unhindered; how they sustained for three weeks; who negotiated the terms of ‘surrender’ and why some of them were ‘rewarded’ with cash at the end of the dharna. Senator Sehar Kamran said the interior minister had claimed that he could disperse the crowd in three hours but failed miserably and his lack of strategy was even criticized by his own party members including the former interior minister. However, PML-N’s Senator Saud Majeed said that the current sit-in was the continuation of the previous one. He said that the sit-in had exposed the hidden agenda of some forces against the democratic setup. Nihal Hashmi was of the view that everyone was talking about the respect of their respective organisations but nobody talks about the respect of the country. He said everyone needed to realize that no department or the person was above the prestige of Pakistan. Senator Rehman Malik said that the nation was totally disappointed from the parliament. MQM’s Senator Nighat Mirza said that the hidden hands had also divided the MQM and demanded that such interventions should stop. Leader of the Opposition in Senate Aitzaz Ahsan said that the Faizabad sit-in was a unique one because it was held by a religious party, adding that it based over an issue on which every Pakistani gets emotional. Published in Daily Times, December 15th 2017.