A conflict of authority has emerged between Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Nawab Muhammad Taimur Talpur and Umerkot DCO Saleem Raza Khuhro. The problem intensified on Friday as Talpur and other MPAs tabled a privilege motion against the DCO which is likely to come up for debate at the next session of the assembly. Meanwhile, Kunri was shut down in protest.
The friction began four days ago when Talpur accused DCO Khuhro of suspending development funds, employee salaries and funds to buy medicines for the local hospital to his constituency - Kunri tehsil. Amid this tension, an FIR was filed against five of the MPA’s gunmen on Thursday.
According to DCO Khuhro, the five bodyguards broke into DCO House in Umerkot with Kalashnikovs in a bid to attack him but he fled from another gate. He told The Express Tribune, “I ran away. I don’t feel ashamed to say it because I had to run for my life. Although my family was not present when the incident happened, the episode has left us all traumatised.”
The DCO House security guard, Awal Shah, registered an FIR at the Umerkot police station for alleged assault and death threats. The gunmen — Ishad Kunbhar, Aidu Kunbhar, Naik Muhammad Chandio, Ghazi Khan Chandio and Aashiq Khoso — were named as the accused.
Contradictory statements
The DCO explained that he has no grudge against the MPA as his guard, being in charge of DCO House’s security, only registered the FIR against the five gunmen. However, the MPA insists that the FIR names him three times and accuses him of sending his gunmen to shoot the DCO.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Taimur Talpur said, “The DCO was not releasing Rs70 million and was using derogatory language against me. Even his staff was. I repeatedly asked him to stop this, but he did not listen. We exchanged hot words on the phone, but I did not attack his office.”
The police cannot register a case against a sitting MPA and they have to seek permission from the Sindh Assembly speaker before lodging an FIR, he explained. “This is for the first time in the country’s history that the case has been lodged against an MPA without the speaker’s approval. I am depressed that this all has been done in my party’s government.” His father Yousuf Talpur raised the issue at the floor of the National Assembly on Friday, after which many PPP parliamentarians and others supported the impartial inquiry.
Protests
Supporters of the Talpurs went on a shutter-down strike, burned tyres and protested on Friday against the DCO for registering the ‘fake’ FIR against the MPA’s bodyguards. The protesters, led by PPP leader Haji Abdul Latif Gill, Haji Shakil Bajwa and Sufi Nazar Ali, demanded the transfer of DCO Saleem Khuhro and an official inquiry against “the DCO’s alleged involvement in corruption and holding back funds.”
However, the DCO categorically rebutted these claims. “This is a matter of record, which can be verified.” DCO Khuhro maintained that there are three other MPAs and an MNA from his district but none have ever accused him of anything.
The protesters said that Nawab Yousuf Talpur and his son Taimur Talpur were spearheading the town’s development but as part of a ‘conspiracy to damage their popularity’, Kunri was being deprived. They would surround DCO House and stage a sit-in if Saleem Khuhro was not transferred within 24 hours, the supporters warned.
The DCO, meanwhile, said, “I know I will be suspended. An inquiry will be instigated against me. I have been telling them, ‘If you don’t like my face, get me transferred’.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2011.
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