KARACHI, June 19: The Sindh Assembly members deplored on Thursday the killing of a former speaker of the legislature Abdul Raziq Khan, besides expressing concern over the law and order situation and failure of the authorities to apprehend the culprits.

They expressed their views during a reference for the late Raziq Khan, held in pursuance to a resolution of leader of the opposition, Nisar Khuhro.

Initially, the treasury benches were in no mood to let the opposition take up the matter. As a result, the whole day’s proceedings were marred by uproar and accusation bouts from either side of the political divide.

Finally, when the members had lost their steam, the Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah allowed members from both sides to give vent to their feelings.

In his speech, the leader of the opposition Nisar Khuhro criticized the provincial government for failing to institute a judicial inquiry into the high-profile murder of Raziq Khan of the PML-Q. He pointed out that the PML-Q members were not willing to deplore the murder of their colleague.

Mr Khuhro said it was an irony that despite several political murders in the country since Liaquat Ali Khan’s assassination, the culprits had never been apprehended nor were the people informed of the findings of the various inquiries.

Deploring the deteriorating law and order situation, he informed the house that after the murder of Raziq Khan, PML-N leader Ejaz Shafi had also received threats.

He said the government had not taken the threat to Mr Shafi’s life seriously which attitude was irresponsible. He also deplored the killing of Khalid bin Waleed.

The Minister for Local Government Mohammad Hussain said he had been hurt by Raziq Khan’s murder. The deceased was a former member of the MQM, he said, adding that the legislature should express its condolences.

Mr Hussain also recalled the ‘extra-judicial killings’ that took place during the PPP rule.

Arbab Rahim, the provincial Minister for Services and Works, was also critical of the deteriorating law and order situation and expressed his surprise that in many cases judicial inquiries had not been conducted.

He stated that not only should a judicial inquiry into the high-profile murder be undertaken but the findings should be made public as soon as possible.

Those who spoke included Nuzhat Pathan, Sassi Palejo, Mohammad Rafiq Engineer, Rahila Tiwana, Kunwar Naveed, Nasrullah Shaji and Rafiq Ahmed.

Meanwhile police have been groping in the dark to find a clue to the killers of Abdul Raziq Khan.

Mr Khan, and his driver Mehmood Alam were shot dead by two men on a motorcycle near the city courts in Mithadar area on June 11. The attack took place as Mr Khan was on his way home from the city courts premises.

The investigators said they had found eight empties at the place of the incident, which suggested that a Kalashnikov rifle was used in the attack. They said no arrest had been made in connection with the case, nor had anyone been detained.

An investigator said: “This is a blind case as the eyewitnesses, including two traffic police officials and a private security guard, have been reluctant to cooperate. However, we have collected the available evidence and are trying hard to trace the killers.”