June 14, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1428

ISLAMABAD, June 13: The opposition members on Wednesday staged a token walkout from the National Assembly, to protest over the murder of a university student in Karachi, asking the speaker to direct the Sindh government to hold an inquiry into the incident and present its report before the parliament.

Speaking on a point of order during the budget debate, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) MNA Liaquat Baloch drew the attention of the house towards the kidnapping and killing of a Karachi University student leader, Wasif Aziz, who belonged to Islami Jamiat Tulba (IJT).

Mr Baloch regretted that no inquiry was taking place on the May 12 incident in Karachi in which several people lost their lives when the chief justice arrived in the city. He said Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, during his meetings with opposition leaders Asfandyar Wali and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, had claimed that he wanted to improve the situation in Karachi.

Mr Baloch said that the situation was not improving in Karachi at all. He alleged that Wasif Aziz was kidnapped in the evening and then his body was thrown on a road at midnight. He alleged that there were marks of torture on Aziz’s body.

“Can I ask parliamentary leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Farooq Sattar that why an important student leader was killed soon after a convention of the All Pakistan Muttehida Students Organization,” he said in his reference to the students wing of the MQM. “Who kidnapped and tortured an important student leader? Who will now hold inquiry into it?” he added.

The MMA leader demanded of the Sindh government to direct a probe into the killing of the student. He said that to express solidarity with the students and to protest over the killing, they would stage a walkout from the assembly. He was joined by MNAs belonging to other opposition parties, including the PPP and the PML-N.

Later, responding to Mr Baloch’s speech, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar expressed his condolence over the killing of the Jamiat leader in Karachi. He said the MQM condemned the incident and expressed the hope that the Sindh government would take notice of it and present a report to the democratic institutions.