ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has proposed an all-party parliamentary committee to investigate the violence in Karachi and expressed his readiness to present the arrested murder suspects before it.
The minister gave the proposal in his speech that wound up a debate on the “general law and order situation in the country with particular reference to the recent violence in Karachi” in the opposition-requisitioned Senate session here on Thursday.
He informed the Senate that so far the Sindh government had arrested 154 alleged target killers in Karachi and these people were being interrogated.
In response to the allegations by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) senators that the law enforcement agencies continued to play the role of silent spectators for four days when innocent people were being massacred in Kati Pahari and Qasba Colony localities of Karachi, the minister recited a very meaningful verse indicating involvement of some of the allied parties of the government.
“What happened to Qasba Colony and Kati Pahari, I would only say dekha jo teer khaa ke kamein gah ki taraf, apne hi doston se mulaqaat ho gayee',” the minister said while pointedly addressing MQM Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan.
The minister suggested that the committee could be called a fact-finding body and should have two members from each political party. He said the formation of the committee would give a strong message to the target killers that all the political parties were united on the issue.
Challenging the figures of 400 and 500 killings presented by various opposition members, he said 297 people had died in the recent incidents of violence in Karachi. He said the data of the 92 people killed in the incidents of target killings showed that all parties were victims of the target killings. Among them, he said, 43 belonged to the MQM, 16 to the PPP, 15 to the ANP, six each to the MQM-H and Sunni Tehrik, two of the Jamaat-i-Islami, and one each to the PML-N and Pakhtun Students Federation.
Responding to the allegation by the opposition members that the target killers were being patronised by the political parties, particularly those ruling the Sindh province, and that the parties managed to get the arrested murderers released, the minister said it were the courts and not the government which released the arrested alleged killers.
He said all those nine people who had been arrested in connection with the Shershah Market blasts in Karachi had recently been granted bail by the court due to lack of evidence. He said the courts granted them bail as witnesses were not ready to appear before it due to fear.
“There is a need to change the law as killers escape punishment,” he said, adding the government was working on it. He said the government was working on plans to provide protection to the judges, lawyers and witnesses so that the courts could function without any fear. He regretted that a bill to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act had been lying pending before a Senate committee for one year.
While admitting a little delay in the action by law enforcement agencies in Karachi, he said the Rangers had cleared Kati Pahari area after facing a stiff resistance as the criminals were holed up in houses and were equipped with sophisticated weapons.
About his previous media statement regarding the recovery of Israel-made weapons from Karachi, the minister said that finding of the weapons manufactured in some country did not prove the involvement of that particular country. He admitted that the government was not able to completely check smuggling of arms through a long and porous border, adding the steps were underway to strengthen border control management with the cooperation of Iran and Afghanistan to control drug and weapons smuggling.
Responding to severe criticism on his performance as interior minister, Mr Malik said that he was not responsible for everything going wrong in the country. He said the law and order was a provincial subject and he was there only to assist them and provide them intelligence and logistic support.
“Rehman Malik is not responsible for everything. Ask the Sindh chief minister as to how many people have been arrested there. Ask the Punjab chief minister why so much kidnappings are taking place in the province. Ask Balochistan chief minister why bodies are found there”, the minister said in an angry tone.
The minister called for ending “power game” in Karachi. He said criminals always took advantage of the fighting between the two parties. He said besides target killings, the sectarianism and Taliban factors were also playing role in creating disturbance in Karachi. He said recently the government had arrested some foreigners who were financing the people to spread sectarianism in the country.
Earlier, the opposition senators lashed out at the government for its failure to bring peace in Karachi in the past three and half years and termed the issue a result of “political conflict.”
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