KARACHI: A call to purge the police force of black sheep bringing bad name to the government echoed in the Sindh Assembly on Monday when Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmakers referred to the agony of the families whose youths were allegedly being picked up by unidentified policemen.

They said officials arrived in police mobiles in certain localities at night, entered houses, picked up youths and took them away to undisclosed places and after a day or two threatened their parents to pay for their release or else they would be booked for murder and terrorists activities.

The house, which met at 11.30am after a two-day break with Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in the chair, was adjourned at 3.05pm after the completion of the agenda. Before calling it a day, the chair gave the floor to MQM lawmaker Saifuddin Khalid, who said he wanted to raise the issue in the presence of Home Minister Anwar Sial.

However, he said, he wanted to draw the attention of the house to the plight of the people in his constituency of Orangi Town, where for the last two months some unidentified officials in police mobiles entered houses at night and picked up youths with their mobile phones, put them into their vehicles with no number plates and drove them to unknown places. After 24 to 36 hours they called their families from their mobile phones to demand big amounts of money for their release threatening if the money was not arranged, they would be implicated in cases of murder and terrorism. People got their youths released after paying millions of rupees.

He said some black sheep in the police in connivance with criminal elements of the locality were involved in blackmailing the families, causing unrest among the people. He also referred to a press report which said Rangers personnel had arrested ASI Akram in Pakistan Bazaar with his accomplices while collecting extortion money. Demanding purging of the force of such elements, the MQM lawmaker suggested setting up of a committee to register such complaints.

Leader of the opposition Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hasan endorsing his colleagues’ call said the practice of extortion and ransom was not restricted to Orangi Town alone but it was also reported in other parts of the metropolis, including Korangi, Saudabad and Baldia, where people in police garb contacted by phone the victims’ parents and demanded ransom for the release of their children.

Mr Hasan said many of the families did not inform them of their plight for fear.

Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani advised the lawmakers to give their complaints in writing both to the home minister and the chief minister.

The other issues taken up during the session included deaths of children in Tharparker, encroachment under the Quaidabad bridge, laying before the house of the quarterly report for July-September 2015 on receipt of the province for 2015-16, current revenue capital and development expenditures for 2015-16, which will be discussed on Monday.

Besides, the Sindh Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (amendment) Bill, 2015 to set up The Shaheed Benazirbad BI & SE was passed unanimously. Consideration on The Sindh Allied Health Professional Council Bill, 2015 and The Sindh Bonded Labour Sytem (Abolition) Bill, 2015 were deferred to Friday.

Earlier, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Nisar Ahmad Khuhro introduced two government bills –– The Karachi Institute of Technolgy and Entrepreneurship Bill, 2015 and The Sindh Shops and Commercial Establishment Bill, 2015.

A privilege motion of Sumeta Afzal regarding violation of Rule 28 in not summoning the session of the assembly as per its schedule and the adjournment motion of Heer Ismail Soho and Naila Munir were ruled out of order as non-maintainable by the speaker. Both were opposed by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro and Food Minister Nasir Hussain Shah, who said there was no famine-like situation in the area and referred to the measures the government had taken to help the people, including medical care and potable water availability. In seven phases 400,000 families were provided free wheat, and the eighth phase was in progress.

In the adjournment motion the MQM lawmakers had pointed out that according to a press report by January 15 only three children had died from a food shortage while till today the number of deaths were 71 while 95 children were hospitalised. What measures the government had taken to rein in the famine-like situation in Thar, they asked.

The MQM’s Muhammad Hussain in his call attention notice said in Tharparkar, of the 215 dispensaries budget was allocated for 30 dispensaries only. The health minister said the budget was allocated for those medical institutions where the required manpower was available. “We have interviewed people and after recruitment of the staff, budget for other dispensaries would also be allocated,” he said.

Local Bodies Minister Jam Khan Shoro, responding to the call attention notice of Dr Zafar Ahmad Kamali, about the overflowing sewers and garbage dumps and damaged roads in Mirpurkhas, said the situation was not what was being projected as a cleanliness drive was under way and 400 sanitation workers were deployed for it. In fact, he said, the municipal institutions were ruined by overstaffing.

In response to MQM MPA Sumita Afzal’s call attention notice, the minister said contaminated water was being supplied nowhere in Karachi, including Orangi, as water was being supplied to the people after filtration.

In response to the call attention notice of Waqar Hussain of the MQM, about the construction of 200 shops under the Quaidabad flyover and collection of Rs80 million from the people, the minister said 50 shops had already been demolished and the remaining shops would also be demolished soon if there was no legal hitch.

Home Minister Anwar Sial on the call attention notice of Khwaja Izharul Hasan regarding the non-registration of 3,000 seminaries under the National Action Plan in Sindh, said the process of registration was on and soon it would be completed as per the registration pro forma provided by the federal government.

After the session talking to the media, leader of the opposition Khwaja Izharul Hasan said the MQM was raising important issues of the people in the assembly. The Sindh government was increasing the amount every year in Thar but the deaths continued unabated. The Sindh government had turned Sindh into a Thar during its last seven years of rule, he remarked.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2016