LAHORE, March 21: The Punjab government came under severe criticism in the provincial legislature for its failure to maintain law and order in the country’s biggest province where nobody, from deputy opposition leader to ministers, was safe and outlaws were free to target anyone, anytime of their choosing.

Suspending the rules to set aside the Question-Hour to devote the whole day to the law and order situation, members from the opposition and treasury benches expressed their views on the subject, with most of the speakers were of the view that the situation in the Punjab was of ‘no law but more order.’

Some feeble voices were raised to defend the government for its ability to maintain peace on Ashura, the most sensitive day of the year.

The session was requisitioned by the opposition when PML(N) leader from Faisalabad Rana Sanaullah Khan, who is also deputy opposition leader in the provincial legislature, was picked up allegedly by some intelligence operatives who shaved off his head, eyebrows and bristle moustache and also caused some two dozen blade injuries on various parts of the body.

Rana, a lawyer by profession, came to the house and was warmly received by his opposition colleagues outside the assembly chambers. He was garlanded and also offered a turban.

Immediately after recitation of the Holy Quran, PPP leader Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan proposed suspension of the rules to discuss the law and order situation in the province, specially the traumatic experience of Rana Sanaullah Khan. Law Minister Rana Basharat did not oppose and thus started the debate.

Opposition leader Qasim Zia opened the debate by recalling how his PML(N) colleague was picked up and tortured. The law and order, he said, was something non-existent in the Punjab and thus the whole debate would be an exercise in futility.

He said the culture adopted by the leadership at the centre trickled down to provinces and in a country where there was little regard for the Constitution, law and order would be an extinct species. He said the crime in the Punjab was highest compared to any other federating unit. The gravity of the situation could be gauged by the fact that neither people belonging to the treasury benches nor to the opposition were safe. He recalled how a minister was deprived of his car and the other’s residence was fired upon.

Rana Sanaullah Khan likened himself to the people of Iraq who have been subjected to US aggression.

There was a time, he said, when rulers used to throw their opponents before beasts. But now those in power got their adversaries beastly treated by ‘human beings’. He handed over to speaker Afzal Sahi his medico-legal report and the cotton pads with which he was blindfolded after being picked up.

Rana made it clear that such maltreatment would not stop him from telling the truth. He said he stood by what he had said of the Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report or appointments of military officials in the TEVTA.

“We respect the army as an institution, as a defender of the country. But, we condemn army’s role in politics. I can’t respect those who have inflicted injuries on my body”.

Criticizing the maltreatment he had to face, he said the perpetrators would have done better if they had dared former Indian General Arora.

Rana Sanullah warned the rulers that such tactics would never help them. He recalled that the late Shah of Iran had used SAVAK to suppress his opponents. But then came a time when the same institution could not help him get place for his grave in the country.

He said Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had phoned him after the incident and gave an impression that his government was not involved in the incident.

He said the government should inquire as to who had been getting tapes of the assembly proceedings and seeking legal advice on whether some case could be instituted against him (Rana) on that basis.

“If the home secretary is part of the Punjab government, then the government can’t dissociate itself. But if he is a separate entity, then it can”, he said, implying that the home secretary was responsible for whatever had happened with him.

He criticized adviser on human rights for his assertion that the PML(N) leader had not been tortured. He said though the adviser was also Rana by caste, he deserved little respect.

He said it was for the government to expose the accused responsible for the incident.

PPP leader Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan said utterances in the assembly hall could not be made basis for action against any member.

He was critical of the deteriorating law and order situation in the province. He said still more deplorable was the fact that neither the home secretary not the police inspector-general was present in the house to listen the debate. He said it was not clear as to who was running the province, the governor, the national security council, the home secretary or somebody else. PML(Q) leader Sardar Hasan Akhtar Mokal said the situation Rana Sanaullah Khan had to face could have been averted if the evil had been nipped in the bud. He recalled how Dalai Camp was set up in the late Bhutto period and how leaders like Malik Muhammad Qasim and Yasin Khan Wattoo were tortured.

“If no remedial step had been taken then, it’s time to take the initiative now”, he said, underlining the need for measures to protect the political opponents. He called for an inquiry into the incident of Rana sanaullah Khan.

PPP’s Raja Riaz said democratic traditions demanded that the chief minister and the home minister should step down forthwith after the tragedy the deputy opposition leader had been through. He said he believed that Rana Sanullah Khan would not get justice from the government and thus he would like to entrust the matter to Allah’s court. Saying this, he started reciting “Azan” (call for prayer) in the house.

One member proposed that Raja Riaz should be deseated for he did not remember “Azan”. Or else, he said, he should be asked to sit with minority legislators.

MMA’s Ehanullah Waqas, Arshad Baggoo, Malik Ahad, Ms Ferzana Raja, Khizer Hayat Virk, Abdur Razzaq, Malik Asghar, Brig (retd) Javed Asghar, Saba Sadiq, Ms Naseem Lodhi, Dr Ferzana, Sheikh Amjad Aziz, Sibghatullah, Rana Mashshood, Faiz Ahmed Moakal, Uzma Bukhari, Saeed Akbar Niwani, Asghar Ali Gujjar, Javed Aslam, Sheikh Ijaz Ahmed, Dr Javed, Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor, Nazar Husain Gondal, Dr Waseem Akhtar and Raja Shafqat Abbasi were among the speakers.