KARACHI: With renewed protest on issuance of computerised national identity cards (CNICs) to “illegal aliens and refugees” and persistent power outages in the metropolis, the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday passed seven bills into law and introduced four others in the house.

The private members’ day of the ongoing session with Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in the chair saw four bills for setting up of new universities and introduction of a bill for another university in the province.

The house adopted four resolutions; one of them was tabled by Nusrat Abbasi of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional asking the house to take notice of violation of the Citizenship Act by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and issuance of CNICs to “illegal immigrants” in the country.

‘Nadra issues 0.5m CNICs to aliens’

Ms Abbasi said the issuance of CNICs to illegal aliens and refugees, most of them Burmese and Afghans, had tangibly increased.

“Nadra authorities are violating the Citizenship Act with impunity and have issued identity cards to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants,” she said.

PTI resolution against power crisis in Karachi unanimously passed

She claimed the number of illegal immigrants who had been given CNICs was well over 500,000 as the standard policy involving verification had been put on the back burner and the cards had been issued by scrapping objections against such pending requests.

She claimed more than 50,000 blocked CNICs had been reissued to foreign nationals living illegally in Pakistan.

The past policy when a separate authority would issue special cards to illegal immigrants after due verification and procedures “has completely been done away with”.

She said a large number of illegal immigrants who had received CNICs were voters and substantial numbers of them were already elected to the municipal bodies, particularly in Karachi.

She blamed the Nadra authorities for being “involved in forgery” while issuing CNICs to non-Pakistanis. She asked the Sindh government to take up the issue with Islamabad, adding, “no place will be [left] for our children on our own land if we remain non-serious over this matter.”

Law Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar supported the resolution when Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza allowed no more members to speak over the issue citing little time to deal with the heavy agenda.

The resolution was adopted unanimously.

PTI, PPP trade barbs over power crisis

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Khurram Sher Zaman tabled another resolution regarding ongoing power crisis in Karachi. He said the entire city was suffering from worst power outages because of unsettled tiff between K-Electric and the Sui Southern Gas Company.

He said the loadshedding had affected everyone in Karachi — from housewives to industries — but the issue could not be resolved.

He blamed the Sindh government for not taking proper actions to mitigate the issue. He went on to blame the provincial authorities of being “partner in crime” with the private power provider.

Senior Minister Nisar Khuhro said the matter had been taken up by the Sindh government with the relevant authorities, which included the chief minister’s letters to the prime minister in addition to raising the issue at the Council of Common Interests.

He asked the PTI lawmaker what his leader was doing during the Musharraf era when the power utility in Karachi was privatised. “It was the federal government and not this Sindh government which had privatised KE.”

He said the Sindh government had established a power plant in Jamshoro especially for the people of Karachi to provide the city 100 megawatts.

He said while privatising KE (then the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation) promise had been made to revamp the whole power supply system, and those promises had never been fulfilled.

Mr Khuhro said the PPP had always opposed the company’s privatisation unlike the PTI’s leadership. However, he did not oppose the resolution, which was passed unanimously.

A resolution calling for action against people using tinted glasses on cars and moving with masked gunmen moved by MQM’s Qamar Rizvi was adopted.

Seven bills passed

The assembly passed seven bills into law presented by private members. They were: The Capital University Bill by Ghazala Sial; The Emaan Institute of Management and Sciences at Karachi Bill by Sharmila Farooqi; The Aror University of Art, Architecture, Design and Heritages Sukkur Bill by Awais Shah; The Sindh Maternity Benefits Bill; The Sindh Regulation of Aesthetic and Laser Treatment Bill; and The Sindh Street Children Shelter Home Bill by Seema Zia and the University of Art and Culture, Jamshoro Bill by Ghazala Sial.

The Sindh Fair Representation of Women Bill by Saira Shahliani and Rana Ansar and the Sindh Prohibition on Manufacture, Promotion, Distribution, Importing, Sale and Consumption of Gutka and Mainpuri (Amendment) Bill, 2018 by Sumeta Afzal were referred to the house standing committees for review.

The house introduced four private bills, which were: The Sindh Hindus Marriage (Amendment) Bill by Nand Kumar; The Sindh Regularisation of Commercial Transport Companies Bill by Khairunnisa Mughal; The Sindh Women Protection Authority Bill and The Sindh Water Management (Amendment) Bill by Rana Ansar; and The City University Bill by Kulsoom Chandio.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2018

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