KARACHI, Jan 29: As the Sindh Assembly continued discussion on law and order on Wednesday, the growing polarization between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a major component of the coalition, and the opposition Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal was quite evident from the tone of the members’ speeches.
With Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah in the chair, the discussion centred on the recently promulgated police laws and the deteriorating law and order situation in the rural and urban areas of the province.
Violence during the recently-held byelections and killings in a tribal feud were echoed as members gave vent to their feelings.
Proceedings were interrupted by the rumpus created by the opposition and also due to the too much indulgence shown by the Speaker.
A Minister, Saeeda Malik, defended police reforms though she acknowledged that the law and order situation was not yet satisfactory. She wanted police to be given more time and advocated grant of pay rise to them.
The Minister for Planning and Development, Shoaib Bokhari, said that unless people were ready to accept facts, there would be no improvement.
Mr Bokhari criticized control of mosques on sectarian basis and termed this ‘regrettable’. He said that since Sept 11 incident, religious factor had crept up in the law and order problem. He claimed that 60 doctors had been killed owing to sectarian intolerance. Mr Bokhari’s remarks were interpreted as an attack on MMA. He said that there were flaws in all institutions, not the police alone.
The PPP Parliamentarians MPA, Shazia Mari, lamented that police excesses, fratricide, dacoities, car-snatching and kidnappings, were on the rise in the rural areas of Sindh.
Maulana Hameedullah Khan of the MMA expressed concern over the rapidly deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi which, he claimed, had become alarming since 1985 following the advent of the ethnicity-based politics. He said that owing to kalashnikov culture, not only citizens’ lives were at risk, but there was also flight of capital which aggravated unemployment.
He alleged that a sitting minister had threatened the incumbent Medical Superintendent of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital with dire consequences. He further alleged that ministers had interfered in the recently held byelections.
The MMA legislator said that the government levied taxes but failed to provide security to the common man.
He observed that though the Leader of the House also belonged to the interior of Sindh, tribal feuds in Sukkur, Ghotki and other areas were rampant.
He criticized the government for not honouring its commitment to remove banners inscribed with remarks apparently targeted at the MMA. This was done deliberately, he added, in order to create tension and law and order situation. He observed that ever since the new government had come into power, corpses in sacks had started reappearing in the city.
Other speakers also emphasized the need for reorganizing and reforming police on scientific lines besides inducting better educated people.
While the discussion was still continuing, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day.
During the proceedings, the assembly admitted a privilege motion moved by the opposition MPA, Aziz Jatoi. The Speaker referred it to a special committee of the House which was constituted on Jan 27 to tackle another privilege motion moved by Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Syed Murad Ali Shah.
Mr Jatoi wanted to discuss the arrest of a man, Ibrahim Jatoi, from the premises of a court in Larkana. The mover has pointed out in his motion that the concerned SHO and policemen had misbehaved with the detainee and an MPA, Ayaz Soomro, who had gone to the court to secure Ibrahim’s bail.
Earlier, Home Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed had maintained that the concerned police officer had been suspended and an inquiry had been ordered against the SHO. Law Minister Chaudhry Iftikhar informed the House that Ibrahim Jatoi was arrested as per the FIR No. 73 of 2003 under Hudood Ordinance and other offences from some place in Larkana city and not from the premises of a court.
The opposition was opposed to sending the motion to the special committee. However, when put before the House for a vote, the majority favoured its referral to the committee. The committee was directed to submit its findings regarding this motion in the next session of the assembly.
The Speaker also reserved order for Thursday on an adjournment motion moved by the opposition’s Ghulam Qadir Chandio who wanted a debate on, what he called, “interference by the provincial government” in the recently held byelections in Sindh. His motion was, however, opposed by the Minister for Law.
During the day’s proceeding, the Sindh Ordinance NO. XLVIII of 2002, an ordinance to further amend the SLGO 2001, and the Ordinance No.XLIX of 2002, which pertained to the eradication of the menace of forced donation (Bhatta), were laid before the House.
PUNJAB WATER COUNCIL: Also during the proceedings, Leader of the Opposition sought government’s comments on the reported remarks by the Coordinator of Punjab Water Council. In his remarks, the official had reportedly accused Sindh of blackmailing on water issue. He had also been quoted as saying that Punjab was mentally prepared to accept Sindh’s separation on the issue. The remarks had created an uproar in the House earlier in the ongoing session.
The law minister informed the House that the said coordinator had denied having made the remarks as appeared in a section of Press.
He pointed out that an official of the council, an NGO, had described the reported statement as ‘concocted and mischievous’. The minister said that the official had stated that the council could not even think of making such utterances against Sindh as the NGO believed in the integrity and prosperity of Pakistan.
The law minister’s observations did not satisfy Leader of the Opposition who demanded that the coordinator be summoned and asked to give an explanation.
The Speaker directed the law minister to approach the coordinator and seek his categorical statement on this matter and submit the same to the House on Friday.
KARACHI, Jan 29: As the Sindh Assembly continued discussion on law and order on Wednesday, the growing polarization between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a major component of the coalition, and the opposition Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal was quite evident from the tone of the members’ speeches.
