Govt under fire on ‘disappearances’: Ord for women’s release tabled in Senate
By Ahmed Hassan
ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: The government on Thursday came under severe criticism in Senate on what the opposition described as mysterious disappearance of a large number of political workers belonging to Balochistan.
The opposition lawmakers alleged that the political workers and relatives of politicians were detained by intelligence agencies without being charged with or produced before the court.
“The Code Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance 2006” was presented in the house which, the government said, had been promulgated to expedite the release of women jailed on minor offences.
While the opposition criticized “the 51st ordinance promulgated despite the presence of parliament in the country”, the government defended it on the grounds that it involved release of a large number of women in the country.
Taking part in the debate on an adjournment motion sought to be moved by the leader of opposition, Mian Raza Rabbani, the lawmakers demanded release of all prisoners including ‘ghost’ detainees, an immediate halt to military action in Balochistan, initiation of political dialogue, implementation on the recommendations of Mushahid Hussain sub-committee and finalization of recommendations by Wasim Sajjad sub-committee dealing with the issue of provincial autonomy.
Responding to the criticism, Wasim Sajjad blamed the opposition members of boycotting the committee proceedings in the middle which stalled its working. He invited all those who boycotted the proceedings to sit together to finalize recommendations so that necessary amendments could be proposed for passage from the parliament.
However, Prof Khurshid Ahmed of MMA disputed Wasim Sajjad’s claim that the work was pending because of the opposition boycott. He said how a committee could continue to work when the government was involved in a ‘large-scale’ military action in the province.
The opposition legislators told the house that the number of missing political workers and relatives of the politicians was in hundreds. Those disappeared were never produced in the court, they alleged, adding that even their families did not know their whereabouts.
In his opening remarks, Raza Rabbani described “the operation in Balochistan, ban on teachers’ unions in Sindh, 48 attacks on journalists in last six months and an all-time increase in the number of missing political activists and their relatives as mark of state repression and intolerance.”
Shahid Bugti of Jamhoori Watan Party informed the house about the detention of his brother Bilal Bugti, a cousin Murtaza Bugti and nephew Jamal Bugti.
“No one knows where they have been kept. Their only crime was that they were related to me,” he said.
Asfandyar Wali, President of Awami National Party, said India never used gunship helicopters to kill the Kashmiris, but the Pakistan Army used them against their own countrymen. He warned the government against creating a situation similar to that in 1971.
PONM’s Abdul Rahim Mandokhel questioned as to why cantonments were being set up and police spreading to more areas against the recommendations of the Mushahid Hussain sub-committee report.
Raza Muhammad Raza, also from PONAM, said the people of his province were becoming indifferent to what was happening in the parliament and were pressurizing their leadership to adopt the path of struggle.
PML-N’s Ishaq Dar blamed the government for “advancing the agenda of antagonist forces who do not want Pakistan on the world map.”
Babar Awan of PPP Parliamentarians said that by turning a blind eye to Balochistan’s financial problems, the government was deviating from the assurance that the Quaid-i-Azam had given to the people of Balochistan in lieu of their vote in favour of Pakistan.
He said the new laws were being framed to block the entry of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif into the country.
