ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: The opposition in Senate on Friday severely criticised the government on a number of issues, including the handing over of the Gwadar Port to the Singapore Port Authority, forced disappearance of people, street crimes and military operations in Balochistan and tribal areas.

The opposition described the recent terrorist acts in the country as a dangerous trend and accused the government of failing to provide security to people. It also termed the government’s Afghanistan policy a failure.

The session, requisitioned by the combined opposition, was preceded by a meeting of the House Advisory Committee where an agreement was reached to discuss the law and order situation in the house by suspending relevant rules under Rule 236.

The government defended the handing over of the Gwadar Port and invited the opposition to take part in a debate in the house on what it called transparency of the deal.

There was a difference of opinion between federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan Niazi and Mushahid Hussain Sayed on whether the media should be allowed to cover the committee’s proceedings. While Dr Niazi was against it, Mr Sayed said the colonial system of suppressing information should be done away with.

Opening the debate, the Leader of Opposition Mian Raza Rabbani said the government had failed to perform its primary duty of providing security to people and establish its writ in all parts of the country.

About the missing people, allegedly arrested by agencies, he said it was the unanimous demand of the opposition that the government should either release the detained people if they had not been handed over to some foreign country or try them in courts if there were cases against them.

He said that under Article 10 of the Constitution, anyone detained by the state for any crime should be produced in court within 24 hours. But, he said, dozens of people had disappeared and their families had not been told of their whereabouts, nor had they been produced in any court. He said police had even beaten up a youth and stripped him in public while he was demanding release of his relative.

He alleged that the government was victimising its opponents in the name of war on terror. He said some of the disappeared people might have been handed over to the US.

He criticised the law and order situation in Sindh and referred to 85 per cent increase in street crimes in Karachi since 2001 where 5,085 vehicles and 54,157 cellphones were snatched last year.

About the Balochistan situation, Mr Rabbani said the people of the province were as patriotic as those of any other province but they were being victimised for demanding their rights.

He claimed that the so-called mega projects initiated in Balochistan would benefit only the rich. He criticised the handing over of the Gwadar Port to the Singapore authority on a 40-year tax moratorium.Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro of the MMA deplored the rise in the number of crimes against women in Sindh. He said a number of girls were reported to have been raped but police were not registering cases because feudal lords of the areas were protecting the criminals.Ilyas Bilour of the Awami National Party blamed the federal government for increase in incidents of violence and terrorism in the NWFP. He said even 80,000 troops deployed along the border with Afghanistan had failed to maintain peace in the area. He also referred to the kidnapping of a senior journalist from Peshawar.

Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Salim Saifullah Khan blamed the MMA provincial government for the deteriorating law and order in the province.

He defended the replacing of levies with police and building cantonments in Balochistan.

The house was adjourned till Feb 12.