KARACHI: Taking advantage of its numerical strength in the 168-member house, the ruling PPP managed on Wednesday to clip the wings of Rangers when, amid a noisy protest by the opposition, it passed a resolution in the Sindh Assembly ratifying the stay of the paramilitary force in the province for one year.

The resolution — tabled after suspension of rules of business by Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal as soon as the house resumed business after prayers for the victims of terrorism, especially the students and teachers of the Army Public School, Peshawar — was adopted by a voice vote within a few minutes without any discussion.

Legislators belonging to all opposition parties — the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, PML-Functional, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and PML-N — gathered around the rostrum, tore up papers and chanted slogans before staging a walkout in protest over the hasty passage of the resolution.

The resolution stated that the ratification by the Sindh Assembly under Article 147 of the Constitution of the provincial government’s July 16 decision to extend the deployment of Rangers for a period of 12 months was subject to fulfilment of four conditions.

The PPP-led provincial government has been accusing Rangers of overstepping their mandate which restricted them to taking action against offences pertaining to “terrorism, targeted killing, kidnapping for ransom and extortion”.

The resolution, in which the word “terrorism” was replaced with “sectarian killing”, reads: “The Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) will have powers in respect of only target killing; extortion/bhatta; kidnapping for ransom and sectarian killing.”

The second condition the resolution imposed on Rangers said the paramilitary force could not place any person “who is not directly involved in terrorism and only suspected of aiding and abetting terrorists or by way of terror financing or facilitating terrorists” under preventive detention without prior approval of the chief minister.

Similarly, Rangers cannot raid any office of the Sindh government and its attached departments without prior written approval of the chief secretary.

In what appeared to be an attempt to cut off cooperation between federal authorities like the National Accountability Bureau or Federal Investigation Agency and Rangers, the resolution said the paramilitary force “shall not assist any other institution apart from Sindh Police” in carrying out its action against targeted killing, extortion, kidnapping for ransom and sectarian killing.

The passage of the resolution united all opposition lawmakers, including those of the MQM who in the past had expressed reservations against the Rangers-led targeted operation in Karachi. They severely criticised the PPP government for using its majority for illegally curtailing Rangers’ powers.

Rejecting the resolution, opposition leaders Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan and Syed Sardar Ahmed of the MQM, Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Liaquat Jatoi of the PML-N, Shaharyar Mahar of the PML-F and Khurram Sher Zaman of the PTI told reporters that the PPP wanted to cover up government corruption and protect plunderers.

Sardar Ahmed said the government was moving towards selective justice which would erode confidence in democracy.

In the evening, Adviser to the Chief Minister on Information Moula Bux Chandio claimed at a press conference that Rangers had been given all the required powers as per the spirit of the National Action Plan and none of their powers had been curtailed.

Declaring that the targeted operation in Karachi would continue till the elimination of the last terrorist, he made it clear that Rangers would have to assist the Sindh police in accordance with the guidelines and instructions of the Sindh government.

Criticising the federal government, he asked why Rangers were not being allowed by the governments of other provinces and the centre to take action against terrorists and perpetrators of heinous crimes.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2015