KARACHI: Council members bicker over judicial probe: Collapse of Shershah bridge
By Latif Baloch
KARACHI, Sept 4: A resolution demanding a judicial probe into the collapse of the bridge forming part of the Northern Bypass, moved by the opposition in the City Council on Tuesday, was rejected by a majority vote.
Instead the treasury adopted its own resolution praising the efforts of City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal for his relief efforts. The resolution also demanded that the control of all 13 development agencies in the city be given to the city government and the federal agencies consult the city government before initiating any development work.The council also adopted two separate resolutions, tabled by the treasury and the opposition benches, condemning the Rawalpindi blast and condoling the deaths in the incident.
When the house started the proceedings, presided over by Nasreen Jalil, treasury member Ahsan Siddiqui drew the attention of the chair to the blast incident, saying that he had submitted a resolution in this regard.
Upon this, advocate Saifuddin of Al-Khidmat Group argued that the house should also discuss the deteriorating law and order situation in the country, particularly in Karachi. In support of his argument, he referred to the May 12 killings and the recent incidents of terrorism in the educational institutions. He was joined by Union Council Nazim Zulfikar Ali, who said that a clash took place between two student groups in Jamia Milli College and he tried to mediate in the matter but his efforts were frustrated by the area deputy superintendent of police. The union council nazim charged that the DSP later humiliated him. He urged the house to take up the issue seriously and pass a unanimous resolution for suspension of the DSP. The convener assured the member that she would personally investigate the matter.
Taking part in the debate, opposition member Mohammad Yaqub suggested that a vigorous campaign be launched for de-weaponization of the city. His demand was responded by uproar by the treasury benches who said any such campaign should not be confined to Karachi but it should be extended to other parts of the country as well.
On a point of order, Al-Khidmat member Abdul Razzaq attempted to draw the attention of the house towards frequent traffic jams, saying that the members should be informed who is responsible for such daily occurrences. In her ruling, the convener told the member that he should better manage his own union council.
When the convener tabled the two resolutions regarding the tragedy of Northern Bypass for the vote, the Haq Parast members rejected the opposition resolution seeking a judicial inquiry and the opposition members staged a token walkout in protest. Subsequently, the treasury adopted its own resolution paying tribute to the city nazim for his relief efforts. The resolution also demanded that the control of all 13 development agencies in the city be given to the city government and the federal agencies consult the city government before initiating any development work.
As opposition members returned after the token walkout, leader of the opposition Saeed Ghani raised the issue of union council funds and described the decision of granting powers to town nazims for monitoring UC projects as illegal. He accused the Haq Parast members of indulging in corruption while shifting the blame on town and UC nazims who were being asked to tender resignations. This provoked the treasury members who stood up and recalled the corruption cases made against opposition leaders when they were in power. Pandemonium reigned in the house for sometime forcing the convener to suspend the session for five minutes.
When the session was resumed, the house approved resolutions for commercialisation of some portions of Shaheed-i-Millat Road, Jamal Afghani and Abdullah College roads.
Later, the convener adjourned the session till Wednesday.
