KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Friday discussed the law and order situation in the province, with the opposition parties blaming the government for a rise in kidnapping for ransom cases, particularly in the interior of the province, robberies and street crime.

It seemed there was no government writ in rural areas of Sindh where no one felt secure after sunset, said the lawmakers on the opposition benches while discussing the adjournment motion filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional leader Shaharyar Khan Mahar on law and order.

Contesting this point of view, Pakistan Peoples Party lawmakers said: “Of course, the situation is not ideal but it is not as bleak as being painted by legislators sitting on the other side of the fence.”

In this regard, they particularly mentioned the measures taken by the government to equip police with modern weapons, bullet-proof jackets and vehicles besides being given better remuneration and a free hand to deal with the law and order situation.

Besides leader of the opposition Shaharyar Mahar, PML-F lawmakers Nand Kumar, Mehtab Akbar Rashdi and Veryam Faqir, MQM legislators Syed Sardar Ahmad, Erum Farooqui and Waqar Shah and PML-N lawmaker Sorath Thebo from the opposition benches delivered speeches.

From the ruling party, Sharjeel Inam Memon, Manzoor Wasan, Syed Murad Ali Shah and Dr Sikander Shoro got the opportunity to discuss law and order before the chair called it a day at 1.55pm to meet again on Monday at 10am.

He accused the government of patronising criminals and criticised the federal interior minister for ignoring the interior areas of the province while focusing on targeted killings in Karachi only.

Initiating the debate on his adjournment motion, Mr Mahar said that law and order situation was unsatisfactory in the province. Out of 20 persons kidnapped from Khairpur — the hometown of the chief minister — eight earned their freedom only after paying ransom, he said.

People were also kidnapped from Sukkur, Jacobabad, Sanghar and Hyderabad while in Karachi, kidnapping had turned into an industry, Mr Mahar said.

He also referred to the kidnapping of a son of the Auqaf secretary whose whereabouts were still unknown.

Responding to the criticism, Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said the long-standing problem of law and order was not restricted to Sindh but the problem was being faced across the country. He said personnel of law enforcment agencies were risking their lives by arresting criminals and militants but the latter did not get punishment from courts.Mr Memom rejected the allegations of loot and plunder in the name of targeted operation in Karachi. In fact 70 to 80 per cent incidents of targeted killings had decreased due to the operation, he said.

He said the federal government did not honour the commitment made by the prime minister about the targeted operation.

According to him, illegal SIMs were the biggest hurdle to control the situation.

He denied that there existed any network of international terrorist organisations in Karachi. He added that the network of all banned organizations was being busted.

MQM parliamentary party leader Syed Sardar Ahmad said the law and order situation had been bad for the past many years. He proposed a committee of lawmakers to review the law and order situation and suggest steps to the government to improve it. He said frequent transfer of SPs and SHOs were a cause of worsening law and order situation.

Waqar Shah blamed some influential persons in the interior of Sindh for patronising kidnappings for ransom. He said that people from the Hindu community were migrating to India due to the increase in the incidents of kidnapping.

He drew the attention of the house towards the wall chalking of “Daesh” (Islamic State) in his constituency PS-128 (Landhi, Qauidabad) and said that 70 per cent walls were painted with slogans of Daesh, but the police remained unmoved despite the fact that the matter had been brought into their knowledge.

PPP lawmaker Dr Sikandar Shoro said that though law and order situation was not ideal, the law enforcement agencies did succeed in arresting those involved in targeted killing of journalists and attacking judges. Due to government efforts, there was a drop in number of terrorism incidents and other crimes.

PML-N lawmaker Sorath Thebo expressed concern over tribal feuds in the interior of Sindh and targeted killings in Karachi. She informed the house that criminal elements were harassing and intimidating Sindhi officers in the secretariat.

Sindh Minister for Anti-Corruption and Jails Manzoor Wassan said that the lawmakers who were criticising the PPP had always enjoyed power whether it was the government of Muslim League or PPP. Without naming any party, he said that those accusing the PPP had themselves started political interference in police when they had been in power.Nand Kumar said that Hindus were migrating to India because the government had failed to provide protection to them. He gave figures to prove that crimes had increased.

MQM lawmaker Erum Farooqui said there were instances where people kidnapped from Karachi were taken to the interior of Sindh. She said area influential persons were playing the role of mediators between kidnappers and families of the victims. She expressed her surprise that police were not aware of it.

Earlier, the assembly proceedings came to a standstill for 10 to 15 minutes when deputy speaker Shehla Raza refused to offer regrets to lawmaker Mohammad Hussain for passing a comment that offended the MQM. She said her remarks were not derogatory but she make them for fun. She said the ruling of the chair could not be questioned.

Rising from their seats, the MQM lawmakers felt piqued and started raising slogan “Go Shehla Go”. She tried to ignore the slogan by giving floor to Veryam Faqir, but for want of order in the house he could not speak.

However, as soon as Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani resumed the chair the order was restored in the house. Faisal Sabzwari and Mohammad Hussain one after the other drew attention of the chair that the remarks be expunged from the proceedings. If the deputy speaker was not restrained from passing such remarks, the lawmakers would be compelled to treat her the way in the past PPP used to behave with the then deputy speaker Rahila Tiwana. On these remarks, PPP lawmakers protested.

Calling for order in the house, the speaker pacified the situation saying that his standing orders were that all remarks passed by any side against any lawmaker should be expunged.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2014