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ISLAMABAD, March 8: Protesting opposition parties walked out of the Senate on Monday as the government came under fire in both houses of parliament over the weekend murder of an opposition member of the Sindh Assembly, Abdullah Murad Baloch.
Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and some other members of the treasury benches also shared the concern voiced by Opposition members over Saturday's murder of the provincial legislator of the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) in Karachi but failed to bring the protesters back into the upper house.
National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain promised to allow a debate on the issue on Tuesday when the lower house began its spring session in the evening, the opposition stirred an uproar in the Senate after chairman Mohammedmian Soomro allowed a discussion on a point of order raised by PPP parliamentary group leader Raza Rabbani.
Opposition senators particularly accused the Sindh provincial government of failing to maintain law and order while being engaged in internal bickerings and stormed out of the house to protest against the absence of Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat to reply to their concerns.
Senators of the PPP-led Democratic Alliance as well as of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal boycotted the entire evening sitting of the Senate, where the treasury benches later wound up a 25-day debate on President Pervez Musharraf's address to a joint sitting of parliament last month.
"Nobody wants bloodshed in Pakistan," Mr Jamali said while winding up the debate during a rare appearance in the upper house. "How unfortunate it is that a Muslim is killing another Muslim in a country which was established in the name of Islam," he said. "Abdullah Murad Baloch was not only a member of the Sindh Assembly but a human being, and we also condemn this incident."
The prime minister said his government was trying to ensure that such incident would not take place in the future and advised the opposition to wait for the report of an already ordered judicial inquiry.
NA SESSION: PPP President Amin Fahim first raised the issue of the Karachi murder at the start of the National Assembly session, which was adjourned until Tuesday morning after only a few minutes to mourn last month's death of Abdul Sattar Laleka, the federal labour and manpower minister and chief whip of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q).
As the lower house was adjourned until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the Senate began its sitting after a two-day recess, to be bombarded with a severe criticism of both the Sindh provincial government and the federal government over the Sindh MPA's murder.
"The Sindh provincial government has totally failed to protect the lives and property of citizens," Mr Rabbani said. He said recent incidents of violence - including the murder of two girls in Karachi and the massacre of 47 people during an Aashur mourning procession in Quetta - only reflected the "state frame of mind" that encouraged terrorism.
