Deviating from agenda: Amin Fahim’s eulogies take up entire Sindh Assembly session

Neither the treasury nor the opposition members mention Rangers special powers

KARACHI: The provincial lawmakers avoided addressing the Rangers special powers issue during the Sindh Assembly session on Friday. Instead, they eulogised the services and contribution of late politician, Makhdoom Amin Fahim.

The resolution pertaining Rangers deployment in the province was on the agenda as the government has to get ratification from the House, under Article 147 of the Constitution. The session, which took place with Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in chair, was adjourned till Monday after the eulogies.

The opposition members, who had tabled resolutions in favour of extending special powers to the Rangers, also failed to agitate the issue during the session. They did, however, made the grievances known outside the hall.

"Millions of rupees are spent on assembly sessions but it looks like the government utilises all its energy on preparing the agenda only instead of running the session as per the rules," said opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izharul Hasan, while speaking to the media outside the assembly.

"We have been hearing for the past one week about Rangers special powers and that a resolution will be moved in the assembly," said Hasan. "But, unfortunately, the government is making a fuss over this issue instead of taking it up seriously inside the session."

Hasan demanded the government share the contents of the resolution with the opposition parties as well.  "The government's intention is unclear," he claimed. "It seems they want to create anarchy," he said. He pointed out that his party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), has been making hue and cry for the last one-and-a-half years against extra-judicial killings of their workers and the illegal arrest of their leaders but, according to him, no one paid attention. "Is this operation only against the MQM in Karachi?" he said.



If the government wants to defend its corrupt ministers through this 'drama', the MQM will oppose the resolution, said Hasan, who believed that the extension of special powers is being delayed merely for the arrest of one person whom he did not name.

He demanded the Rangers start the operation in other districts of Sindh as well.

"Everyone is happy when it comes to the Karachi operation but they make hue and cry when someone mentions an operation in other districts [of Sindh]," he said.

"This double-standard policy is not acceptable." He mentioned Shikarpur and Jacobabad bomb blasts and the elections violence in Daraza, Khairpur Mirs, as examples of the deteriorating law and order situation in rural Sindh.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Shafi Jamote agreed that the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party has staged this drama to defend its corrupt government. "We will protest on Monday if they further adopt delaying tactics in giving special powers to the Rangers," he said.

Agenda

During the session, the provincial assembly left its agenda unaddressed. Around eight different bills, privilege motion by MQM MPA Syed Khalid Ahmed against Karachi administrator for failing to respond to complaints of garbage collection and unavailability of streetlights in his constituency, and an adjournment motion moved by PML-Functional MPA Nand Kumar regarding broken roads in Sanghar district were on the agenda.

Tribute to Makhdoom Amin Fahim

The assembly adopted a resolution, moved by senior minister Nisar Khuhro, to pay tribute to Fahim. More than two dozen MPAs belonging to all parliamentary parties lauded the services rendered by Fahim for democracy, culture and literature.

Rangers’ powers: Traders threaten to lay siege to Sindh Assembly

The traders in Karachi have threatened to lay siege to the Sindh Assembly building if Rangers are not given special powers in Karachi. Speaking to the media, All Karachi Tajir Ittehad's Atiq Mir said that the paramilitary force have controlled the law and order situation by building the confidence of the business community in Karachi. "After so many years, business activities have resumed in Karachi," he said, adding that after the operation against terrorists and criminals in the city, the target killings, kidnapping incidents and street crime have been contained. All the credit goes to Rangers, he said. "We are satisfied with the Rangers' operation," he said. "We will protest in front of CM House and stage a sit-in in front of the assembly if Rangers are not given these powers," said Mir.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th,  2015.