Doha: Murad Saaed, 26, (pictured), the youngest parliamentarian in Pakistan’s history, has said that the international community needs to stop drone attacks in Pakistan if it was serious about peace in the region.
The drone attacks were promoting extremism, as many innocent people, including children, had died in the attacks, Saaed said during his visit to Doha. “If the international community is sincere about peace in Pakistan, they have to stop drone attacks, which are a clear violation of human rights.”
He was in Doha to meet members of the Qatar chapter of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). He said that according to a recent report, as many as 141 children had died in drone attacks in the country. He said overseas Pakistanis were a major asset for Pakistan, many of whom had supported PTI during the 2013 general elections. The elections saw PTI emerge as the second largest political party after Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) in Pakistan.
“During our political movement, overseas Pakistanis gave us a lot of support, including our members in Qatar. Now, we are strengthening our ties with them and looking into the issues that they are facing and how we can assist them,” Saeed said, adding that his party would also help them find jobs and visas in the future.
He was elected to the National Assembly from NA-29 constituency in Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). A large segment of Pathans from the KPK province also reside in Qatar and Saeed said that PTI has invited many of them to invest in their home towns. “We want to invite people to invest in KPK and we are providing them new opportunities to invest in many parts of the province.” He said one of the ways in which PTI was trying to eradicate corruption from KPK was through the Right to Information Act. “The security problem in our region will improve with the rule of law, which we can establish when we end corruption and have the political will to do that.” The Peninsula
