PA debate: Sana rejects claims of organised child kidnappings

House unanimously passes resolution condemning attack on Christian Colony

LAHORE: Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan on Friday rejected claims of children’s kidnapping for organ trade.

During a debate on the law and order, Khan said no group had been found involved in organised kidnapping of children. The Opposition said that kidnapping incidents had been on the rise, but the law minister did not agree. Only four members took part in the debate before Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal prorogued the session. The debate was initially delayed because the Opposition had refused to take part in it in the absence of the law minister and the Police inspector general.

Opening the discussion, the law minister informed the House that the number of missing children and those recovered matched the trends seen in the province in the last five years.

Khan said that 1,185 children were reported missing in 2014 and 1,103 of them were either recovered or returned to their homes on their own. In 2015, he said, 1,093 of the 1,134 missing children were recovered. In 2016, 715 of the 767 missing children were recovered or had returned home.

The law minister said that irresponsible and unverifiable posts on the social media had caused panic in the province. He said that it was not medically possible to remove organs without a complicated procedure. After passage of the Cybercrimes Bill, he said, action could be taken against people spreading disinformation on the social media. He said however that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had directed the authorities to just issue notices to people spreading disinformation on the social media. Referring to the National Action Plan, Khan said that madrassas were being regulated to make sure that they did not harbour terrorists. In the Punjab, he said, more than 1.1 million students had been enrolled in 15,783 madrassas. Of these students, he said, 700,000 were day scholars and 350,000 were boarders. He said that 13,000 foreigners and 25,000 students from other provinces were studying in these madrassas. He said that more than 200 teachers were removed from these madrassas because their names were on the Fourth Schedule. He said that law enforcement agencies had carried out 61,228 search operations in the Punjab from December 2014 to August 2016 and registered cases against 11,360 suspects. He said that 109 hardcore terrorists were arrested during these operations.

Leader of the Opposition Mehmoodur Rashid lashed out at the government for its failure to implement the NAP. He said that implementation of the NAP had been a low priority of the ruling party. He said the government had been ignoring the National Counterterrorism Authority (NACTA) and blocking funds to it.

The Treasury benches continuously heckled Rashid during his speech. Had the government activated the NACTA, he said, there would have been no need to set up any monitoring committee. He rejected missing-children figures given by the law minister. Even if official figures are to be believed, he said, 80 percent of the children kidnapped over the last two years have yet to be recovered.

The Chair took notice of the absence of the secretary of the Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology and Tourism Department from the Question Hour. He directed the officials to write a letter to the chief secretary about secretary’s absence. As per Speaker’s ruling, secretaries have to be present during the Question Hour relating to their departments.

The House unanimously passed a resolution condemning the attack on Christian Colony in Peshawar. The resolution described the attack on the Christian community a conspiracy to defame Pakistan and praised the security agencies for their timely response.

Minority lawmaker Shahzad Munshi was the primary mover of the resolution. The law minister and the leader of the opposition joined him later.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2016.