The Sindh Assembly's lawmakers spent Friday's session venting about different things that made them angry. These included the abduction, torture and extrajudicial killings of Sindhi nationalists.
In the last four months, the bodies of seven missing Sindhi nationalists associated with the banned Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz were found in different parts of the province. The MPAs pleaded that something should be done before Sindh descends into chaotic situation like that of Balochistan.
Members from the opposition and treasury benches asked the government to wake up and do something before the situation spirals out of control.
"Every other day a mother receives the body of a loved one," said Pakistan Muslim League-Functional's (PML-F) Mehtab Akbar Rashdi. "From Karachi to Kashmore, no one is safe. It looks like the people of Sindh are orphaned when insecurity prevails."
The speaker of the assembly, Agha Siraj Durrani, had initially summoned the session on the request of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement to discuss the city's law and order situation. Most of the session was, however, devoted to discussing Sindh's missing persons.
Rashdi lashed out at the government and the police for remaining silent on such a sensitive issue. "It is the democratic right of every citizen to have a different opinion," she said. "It doesn't mean that they should get tortured or end up with broken bones for it. Arrest them and present them in court if they have done something wrong."
PML-F's Nusrat Seher Abbasi turned emotional when talking about the missing persons and asked the government to name those responsible for killing Sindh's youth. "These suspects are driving without number plates on their vehicles and kidnapping our boys," she said. "They dump their disfigured bodies after they kill them."
Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Manzoor Wassan said his party was concerned. He added that the government was taking steps to bring the issue up at a higher forum.
Pointing fingers
As soon as the session started, MQM's MPAs asked Durrani if they could discuss Karachi's law and order situation. The MQM criticised the Sindh government for its failure to maintain the law and order situation in the city and other districts of the province.
MPA Muhammad Hussain, who survived an attack at an MQM membership drive camp along with two other MPAs, said that militancy, street crime and kidnappings were on the rise but the chief minister and his cabinet members claimed that it was all propoganda to defame them.
"Manghopir and some areas of Orangi Town have become a safe haven for militants and law enforcers are reluctant to move there," said another MPA. "My wife's gold was recently snatched at gunpoint. The situation is not looking good."
According to MQM MPA Zubair Ahmed, around 16 policemen have been killed in Hyderabad and so far the police have failed to arrest the culprits. MQM's Zafar Kamali questioned the credibility of the chief minister in controlling law and order in the city.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon defended his government and asked the MQM if the situation was any better during former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf's tenure when PPP's Murad Baloch was killed or when the Nishtar Park incident, in which 57 people died, took place.
Also on the agenda
MQM's Kamran Akhtar moved a privilege motion against the director of education in Karachi for not attending his calls. The MPA withdrew his motion after Sindh Education Minister Nisar Khuhro assured him to summon the director. Zubair Ahmed of the MQM moved the adjournment motion and requested the speaker to take up the issue of encroachment on the historical graveyard built by the Talpurs in Hyderabad.
Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) MPA and the former chief minister of Sindh, Liaquat Jatoi took oath after the election tribunal termed the election of PPP MPA Parveen Junejo void from PS-76.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2014.
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