QUETTA: Debate on the deteriorating law and order situation in the province dominated the Balochistan Assembly’s session on Thursday.
Speaking on a point of order, Balochistan Revenue Minister Zamrak Khan Achakzai called upon the federal government to launch a massive military operation in Karachi under the supervision of the Pakistan Army against gangs of target killers.
Provincial agriculture minister Assad Baloch said that as many as 270 Baloch have so far been killed in Karachi. “Mutilated and bullet-riddled bodies of Baloch people are being recovered almost every day,” he said.
“I demand that Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry take suo motu notice of bullet-riddled bodies of Baloch political opponents being recovered,” he told reporters after the session.
Parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Sadiq Umrani held the previous government responsible for the killings and the worsening law and order situation in Balochistan. However, MPA Tariq Bugti criticised the incumbent provincial and federal governments for their failure to tackle the problem of target killings. “Target killing has been taking place since the past three years and every government holds the previous government responsible to conceal its own shortcomings,” he said.
Bugti said that the Baloch people are not the only victims of target shootings. “As many as 171 bodies have been sent to Punjab. This must be kept in mind while talking about recovery of bodies,” he said.
Other lawmakers, including Nasir Jamali, Ali Madad Jatak, Moulvi Sarwar and Nasreen Khethran, also expressed concern over kidnappings for ransom.
Minister Jai Prakash demanded that the government recover Hindu spiritual leader Lakshmi Chand Garji and three others. “Law enforcement agencies have not taken any sincere steps so far to ensure their immediate recovery,” he said.
PPP MPA Mir Nasir Jamali also said that the Sindh government was not repairing the banks of Kirthar Canal, which fell within its jurisdiction. This, he said, had put the livelihoods of 700,000 households of Nasirabad and Jaffarabad districts at stake.
Earlier, Sheikh Jaffar Mandokhel, from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, tabled an adjournment motion asking the Balochistan government to approach the Sindh government to initiate an inquiry into the murder of journalist Wali Khan Babar last week in Karachi. The motion was approved for two hours of general debate for the next session scheduled for Saturday. Members also offered Fateha for Babar and the slain Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2011.
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