Five MPAs receiving threatening Whatsapp messages

Three MQM members, one PML-F and one PPP minister are being threatened, assembly told

KARACHI: Several members of the Sindh Assembly have been receiving serious threats from militant organisations in Karachi. This issue was raised during the assembly session on Monday by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Sabir Qaimkhani.

He said the threatening Whatsapp messages included demands for extortion. "Give us the money or face the dire consequences," Qaimkhani read out the messages to other lawmakers in the assembly. His concerns were echoed by three other MPAs from his party, a Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) MPA and a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) minister, who all said they had received similar messages on their mobile phones.

"My life is under threat. I request that security please be provided to me," Qaimkhani said.

Kamran Akhtar, another MQM MPA, said that he had also received the same messages.  "The suspects introduce themselves as activists of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi," he said, adding that he has written to the authorities concerned about it but no one has taken his complaints seriously. "My colleagues Mohammad Hussain and Waqar Shah have also received similar threats," he said.



PML-N MPA Ameer Hyder Shah Sheerazi, who belongs to Thatta, stood up and said that he has also been receiving threatening messages from unknown numbers. Not only opposition MPAs, the PPP minister for works and services, Imdad Ali Pitafi, surprised the House by saying that some suspects have also threatened him.

Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal was not present in the House but the speaker asked the lawmakers concerned to approach the law minister and record their complaints. "The government will look into it," he promised.

Census

Law Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar said that no one can get votes in Karachi while using the ethnic card and citizens have now become aware of these mafias. He was responding to a call attention notice moved by MQM MPA Akhtar about the recently conducted census. In his call attention notice, Akhtar expressed dismay over the census results. "The government had decided to conduct the census again in 4% blocks, but no work has been done so far and the post of the provincial census commissioner has been lying vacant for quite some time,” he told the MPAs. “What steps has the government taken in this regard?" he asked.

In his speech, he went on to say that deliberate attempts had been made to record Karachi’s population as lower than it actually was.

Sheerazi, in his call attention notice, raised the issue of water shortage in Thatta district and said that most of the canals have dried up, causing great losses to local farmers.

Legislation

The assembly also passed the Karachi Development Authority bill to make minor changes in it. The Sindh Development and Maintenance Infrastructure Cess Bill and Agriculture Income Tax (Amendment) Bill were also passed.



Excise and taxation         

Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla informed the House that his department has registered around 46,398 imported vehicles between 2013 and 2015. "In this tenure, we have earned around Rs36 crores," he said, while responding to questions of various MPAs.  After the agenda was completed, the speaker adjourned the session till an indefinite time.