LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif presided over a high-level meeting here on Monday to review the situation in the wake of the Kasur incident, its progress, law and order and steps taken under the National Action Plan in the province.

He pledged not to let suspects involved in child abuse in Kasur escape deterrent punishment. He also called for foolproof security arrangements for Independence Day functions and asked the cabinet committee on law and order to play an effective role.

The chief minister said the ban on use of loudspeaker, distribution of hate literature and wall-chalking should be implemented effectively, disallowing any banned organisation to collect donations.

The meeting expressed satisfaction over the steps taken under National Action Plan for eliminating terrorism.

Adjournment motions: Various opposition parties on Monday submitted to the Punjab Assembly call-attention notice and adjournment motions against the Kasur child abuse incident, while the Pakistan Awami Tehreek demanded that Shahbaz Sharif resign as chief minister.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf through opposition leader Mahmoodur Rashid submitted a call-attention notice and an adjournment motion on the issue, while Jamaat-i-Islami’s Dr Waseem Akhtar and PML-Q’s Khadija Umar also separately submitted motions.

The notice asked the chief minister to explain how police could remain ignorant of the child abuses committed on such a large scale.

The adjournment motions called for earlier trial of the suspects and awarding them the strictest punishment for such an inhuman crime and distorting the image of the country. These also demanded that the officers who attempted to divert the investigations by declaring it a land dispute based issue should also be taken to task.

It was feared that being influential the suspects could win respite from subordinate courts as the youths who exposed the scandal were already being given threats. Therefore, the case should be referred to a military court for proper trial and punishment as the Lahore High Court has already rejected the government’s plea to set up a judicial commission to probe the issue.

Pakistan Awami Tehreek Chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri said such a crime could not occur without the protection of government and police officials.

He said whenever the chief minister declared the formation of a judicial commission that meant Shahbaz Sharif wanted to “protect” the criminals.

The PAT chairman said the CM before forming a new commission should first make public the Model Town commission report. “We have been waiting for a copy of the Judicial Commission report for the last five months but in vain.”

Dr Qadri demanded that the chief minister resign from his office admitting his failure in providing protection of life, property and honour to the citizens.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2015

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