KARACHI: Bar on debate over activist’s killing leads to boycott: City Council session
By Latif Baloch
KARACHI, June 14: Opposition groups in the City Council on Thursday staged a walkout and then boycotted the session when the presiding officer, Masood Mehmud, turned down their request for a debate on the issue of the killing of Syed Wasif Aziz, chief of the United Student Front, who was shot dead here on Wednesday.
The chair maintained that the issue was not a matter of urgent nature and public interest. During the boycott, the treasury benches went ahead with the house business and adopted several resolutions.
The house witnessed uproar for some time as many opposition members stood up and started raising slogans against the chair. They also staged a walk-out.
Opposition leaders Saeed Ghani, Ramzan Awan, Abdul Razak and Imran Baghpatti later explained the reasons for the boycott at a press conference. They termed the chair’s attitude ‘partial’, and said Wasif Aziz was a victim of target killing and the incident was linked with the series of the events like the violence in the City Council on March 26, the onslaught against opposition supporters on the city’s streets on May 12, etc.
They accused the city nazim of being indifferent towards the city’s situation though law and order was changing for the worse. They condemned the fact that the city was left at the mercy of terrorists.
When the opposition returned to the house after registering its protest, Saeed Ghani, Abdul Razzak and Ramzan Awan drew the chair’s attention to their resolution and insisted on a debate.
The treasury members offered fateha along with the opposition members for the departed soul. However, the presiding officer did not allow a debate, maintaining that offering fateha and praying for him was enough to condole his death.
RESOLUTIONS: Through the main resolution passed on Thursday, the City Council urged the Sindh government to impose a complete ban on the lending of money by private parties on the basis of interest. It noted that the Punjab government had already declared such business illegal and prescribed 10-year RI and heavy fines for the offenders.
The house also adopted bylaws regarding the slaughtering of animals; called for a ban on the trading in the smuggled Iranian oil; and mixing up of industrial waste with drinking water in Kotri.
The house approved the merger of the defunct KMC and KDA stores departments with the CDGK.
