KARACHI: Suppression of students’ rally leads to walkout: MPAs slam police action
By Habib Khan Ghori
KARACHI, Nov 25: The combined opposition in the Sindh Assembly on Friday staged a walkout and MMA members also boycotted part of the session to condemn the police action against the students who intended to stage a demonstration outside the assembly building.
Police moved against the protesting students as they tried to proceeding towards the assembly building to stage a rally against incidents of manhandling of teachers in different educational institutions over the last few days.
Deputy Parliamentary leader of the MMA through a point of order drew the attention of the house to the police action deploring that the protesting students had been brutally manhandled by police at the roundabout of the assembly building. “Instead of taking action against those who have been roughing up teachers, the police are acting against the students who are staging a demonstration in support of teachers,” he said.
Announcing a boycott of the rest of the house proceedings in protest against the police action, MMA members staged a walkout. As they were leaving the hall, PPP members also lodged a protest against the police action by staging a token walkout.
Since the Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui was not present in the house at that time, Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, who was presiding over the session, asked some other ministers to get details of the incident and provide the same to the house.
Mohammad Hussain of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement maintained that only recently, the home minister had made a detailed statement and explained the government’s policy on the floor of the house vis-à-vis the incidents of manhandling of teachers by some students. He contended that after his statement, there was no need to raise the issue in the house again.
The speaker then asked the leader of the opposition, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, to see what was going on outside the assembly building.
Mr Khuhro told the speaker that the home minister should inform the house why this incident had happened. Planning Minister Shoaib Bokhari asked the opposition that why did it stage a walkout and when they had walked out, why had they come back?
Mr Khuhro replied that the token walkout was aimed at condemning the police action against student. He asked the minister if people did not have the right to take out a procession and whether they were required to seek a prior permission for registering their protest.
Faisal Sabzwari of the MQM stated that even today, some outsiders belonging to a so-called religious organization in S. M. Arts College manhandled Prof Afzal Bokhari, who had been subjected to manhandling in the past also. Condemning the incident, he said the home minister should take the shameful and unpardonable act seriously.
Jam Mehtab Dahar pointed out that since the start of the current assembly session, this was the third incident of manhandling of teachers. He observed that police had moved only today. Had such an action been taken following the very first incident, the untoward incident out the assembly today would not have happened. He asked the government to ensure an immediate halt to the incidents of manhandling of teachers.
The home minister, who had entered the hall by then, gave details of the incident outside the assembly building. He told the house that about 100-150 students emerged there to hold a demonstration in front of the assembly building’s gate. “What was the justification for staging such a ‘surprise demonstration’ outside the building while the assembly was in session?” If some outsiders having sneaked into their ranks would have resorted to creating a law and order situation, who would have been responsible for that? he questioned.
“No doubt there is democracy and not Martial Law in the country. People do have the right to stage protest demonstrations and they do exercise the right every Friday by holding rallies outside mosques without any hindrance. But today, the 100-150 students started moving towards the assembly building for holding a ‘surprise’ protest. They were stopped as any outsider could have joined them and indulged in some sabotage activity endangering the lives of assembly members. Who would have been responsible if such a situation would have developed?”
The minister said he had repeatedly warned that those responsible for manhandling of teachers would not be spared and would face strict action.
He said in this connection, he had already asked all principals and the vice-chancellors that to take action against such elements without any discrimination and in their action, they would have full support from the government.
The minister assured the house that administration would not interfere in affairs of the educational institutions without permission from their heads. If any one attempted to create a law and order situation, the law would come into action, he added.
The day’s session, which had begun one hour late from its scheduled time, was adjourned at 12.40pm. The house will now meet again on Monday.
QUESTION HOUR: Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim has said that the Sindh Goth Abad Scheme was introduced in 1987 with an objective to provide institutional arrangements for undertaking regularization of villages and housing facilities to deserving people in rural areas of the province.
He stated this in a written reply to the question, asked by opposition member Zahid Ali Bhurgari, during question hour in the Sindh Assembly on Friday.
Pointing out that the relevant Act was applicable to union councils only, the chief minister said that according to this Act, a deserving person was entitled for an area not exceeding two ghuntas for the construction of a house on proprietary right, but this limit did not apply to the land on which the deserving person might have built a house before the commencement of this Act.
He explained that the villages falling under the limits of the defunct Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (urban area), could not be regularized under the Sindh Goth Abad (Housing Scheme) Act 1987.
However, he added, these villages could be granted regularization under the Colonization Act for Settlement of Villages on the conditions prescribed by the Land Utilization Department under a notification of 1980. The Sindh Katchi Abadis Act-II-1987 is fully operative and the Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority is performing its legal duties as per law.
The chief minister stated that according to the master list of katchi abadis, 156 katchi abadis in Hyderabad district had so far been identified. Of them, 19 abadis are those which could not be regularized and 137 were those which could be regularized. He said 125 of the 127 notified abadis had been regularized.
In reply to a question asked by Ms Nasreen Chandio, the chief minister said that contaminated water in Hyderabad had caused certain fatalities.
On behalf of the chief minister, Minister for Planning and Development Shoaib Ahmed Bukhari replied supplementary questions and told the house that water supply to Hyderabad became contaminated because of the inflow of excess dirty water from Manchhar Lake into the lagoons meant for filtering water.
However, he said, water filtering was now being done in a better way and in future such incident would not occur. To ensure this, he added, every preventive measure was being taken.
In reply to another supplementary question, he said 35 persons had died after consuming the contaminated water and the chief minister had announced compensation to be paid to the bereaved families.
Responding to Ms Chandio’s query, the chief minister stated that there were four watch- towers — one each at Neelam Point, Cape Mont, Paradise Point and Hawkesbay – along the Karachi beaches.
Replying a supplementary question, Mr Bukhari said that these towers were manned by 40 persons, including divers, and the required facilities were available there to rescue drowning people.
