ISLAMABAD: The opposition parties on Friday ended their boycott of the Senate sessions after they were given assurance that the federal government would review the facts and figures presented by the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to the lawmakers in Upper House on October 30 about deaths in missile strikes and terrorism-related incidents.
The opposition lawmakers in Senate from PPP, ANP, BNP, PML-Q and MQM had been protesting against what they called arrogance shown by the interior minister after allegedly providing wrong data to the House.
The interior minister had explained that the figures had been provided by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and he could get them rechecked, but the opposition insisted that the data be withdrawn.
The opposition also gathered for the third consecutive day on Friday to hold a parallel session outside the Parliament House. However, the finance minister, Information Minister Pervez Rashid and Leader of the House in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq reached the session and persuaded opposition members to end their boycott to which the Senators agreed.
Senate Aitzaz Ahsan, opposition leader in the Senate, confirmed that the opposition parties had decided to end their boycott.
However, he said that the opposition would still submit a privilege motion against the wrong reply submitted by the interior minister in the upcoming session of the Senate.