ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was informed on Tuesday that 2,000 Pakistani students have been evacuated from Iran in view of the current tensions in the Middle East.
Responding to a calling attention moved by Natasha Daultana and others, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhary said our embassy and consulates in Iran are working round the clock to provide all possible support and emergency assistance to the Pakistani nationals. He said there was a chaotic situation in Iran where oil refineries have also come under attack. “Our embassy and two consulates in Iran are working round the clock to provide all possible support and emergency assistance to the Pakistani nationals,” he said.
The minister said crisis management cells have been established in the missions in Iran and around 500 calls are received each day. The minister claimed that majority of students have been evacuated from Iran but did not reveal the exact number of students stranded there, even after a specific question by Natasha Daultana.
Daultana said reports suggest that the number of Pakistani students in Iran was around 35,000.
The National Assembly passed a resolution recognizing the invaluable contributions of women to the social, political and economic development of Pakistan. The resolution, moved by Shahida Rehmani, reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to gender equality and women empowerment in all spheres of national development as well as safeguarding the constitutional rights of women.
The House encouraged increased investment in women’s development including through gender responsive budgeting and the allocation of equitable development funds and initiatives that directly benefit women and girls, particularly in areas such as education, health, economic empowerment and political participation.
The resolution called upon the state institutions, civil society and development partners to work collaboratively to transform our commitment to concrete action and advance the rights, justice and opportunities of all women in Pakistan.
The House on Tuesday passed several private member bills including the Islamabad Capital Territory Territory Compulsory Thalassaemia Screening Bill, 2025 to make premarital thalassaemia screening mandatory for grooms and brides. Under the bill moved by Ms Sharmila Faruqui, every marriage in the Islamabad Capital Territory before solemnising shall fulfil the various preventive health measures. Nikkah Regishar shall obtain test reports of premarital screening of bride and the bridegroom to be married for Thalassemia.
The Nikkah Registrar shall keep and maintain these reports for at least two years from the date marriage is solemnised and if marriage is solemnized in contravention of law, the license of such Nikkah Registrar shall be cancelled or whoever, other than Nikkah Registrar, solemnised such marriage shall face Rs100,000 fine.
In case a healthcare facility fails to carry out the necessary screening, the healthcare facility shall be held negligent to perform its duty and shall be charged a penalty of one hundred thousand rupees. It shall be compulsory for healthcare facility to provide detailed genetic counselling with information on pattern of disease and transmission, and if the healthcare facility does not provide written and oral counselling they shall be deemed to have been negligent of their duty and shall be penalised.
Other bills passed by the House include the Islamabad Capital Territory Charities Registration and Facilitation Amendment Bill 2025, The Provincial Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, 2025, The Code of Criminal Procedure Amendment Bill, 2025, Pakistan Names and Emblems (Prevention of Unauthorized Use) Amendment Bill, The Federal Supervision of Curricula, Text Books and Maintenance of Standards of the Education Amendment Bill, 2026 and Daanish University Islamabad Bill, 2026.
The National Assembly also passed the Danish University Islamabad bill as a government bill seeking establishment of a public sector institution, with a strategic focus on information technology, emerging sciences, and advanced interdisciplinary research.
An interesting situation emerged in the House when a PPP leader opposed a bill seeking trial of murders during mobile phone and purse snatching incidents by anti-terrorism courts. The bill sought to be moved by MQM-P’s Khawaja Izhar ul Hasan was supported by Federal Minister for Parliamentary affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry but Syed Naveed Qamar raised objection saying that anti-terrorism courts had been established for a specific purpose, insisting that murder was a normal crime. He opposed the idea of making normal crime triable by ATCs saying “that is not the scheme of things”.
Khawaja Izhar ul Hasan said the bill had already been passed by the standing committee concerned and was supported by three provinces, including Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. He said Sindh also did not oppose it. The chair deferred the bill till next session after Tariq Fazal Chaudhry also agreed to delay the matter.
