KARACHI: While the issue of Rangers special powers remained unresolved, Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan said on Friday that the Pakistan Peoples Party government was taking measures to separate Karachi from the rest of Sindh administratively.

Referring to the issue of policing powers granted to Rangers for Karachi, Khawaja Izhar, a Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker, questioned as to why the Rangers powers were limited only to Karachi when Chief Minister’s Information Adviser Moula Bux Chandio himself conceded that ‘terrorists’ had escaped from Karachi to the interior Sindh.

“Why are the Rangers not being allowed to conduct an operation in other districts of Sindh? It appears as if Karachi was being separated from the rest of Sindh administratively,” said the opposition leader while talking to reporters after the Friday sitting of the assembly.

He was of the view that the ongoing operation under the National Action Plan should not be restricted to Karachi only. He demanded that the operation be extended not only to entire Sindh but to other provinces, including Punjab, by empowering the paramilitary force with policing powers.

He said the PPP government in order to save one person had made the special powers of the Rangers controversial.

He said that the PPP should not turn the issue into a clash between the province and the federation as it could not afford its consequences. The PPP government should sort out this issue in consultation with the federal government, he added.

The PPP resolution on Rangers stay in Sindh and special powers, though enlisted in the order of the day, was not taken up on the second day of the Sindh Assembly session and the sitting was adjourned till Monday without informing the house whether the resolution would be taken up in the next sitting or not.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional have also submitted their separate resolutions in favour of the Rangers special powers.

Khawaja Izhar asked the government as to why now they needed to endorse Rangers special powers by the assembly and why no other parliamentary party was taken on board about the resolution.

“The political situation suggests some secret deal has been made between the PPP and other opposition parties, therefore, the PTI and PML-F did not press their resolution,” he said.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim remembered

Members from both sides of the divide paid tribute to the late Makhdoom Amin Fahim during the Friday sitting of the Sindh Assembly.

Thirty-three lawmakers — 21 from the PPP, six from the MQM, four from the PML-F and one each from the PML-N and the PTI — spoke and termed his demise a great loss not only for the PPP but also for Sindh and the country.

The house unanimously adopted a joint resolution, tabled by Senior Minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, lauding his services towards humanity, politics, language, culture, social and poetry.

After the resolution was adopted, the house, which was presided over by Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, was adjourned till Monday.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2015