The Pakistan Rangers may have enjoyed support in the Sindh Assembly in the past, but on Thursday, the entire House erupted in an outcry against them for killing a young man.
During the Sindh Assembly session on Thursday, the legislators said that, “security personnel are responsible for saving the citizens’ lives not killing them brutally”. The lawmakers were upset because a few Rangers personnel had killed a young man, Sarfaraz Shah, near Boat Basin on Wednesday.
Power Minister Shazia Marri said that the Sindh government called the paramilitary forces to control the law and order situation in the province but their conduct has been a disappointment. “The chief minister has taken notice of this issue but an impartial inquiry should be conducted to investigate the murder,” she suggested.
As elected representatives, Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Ghulam Qadir Chandio felt that it was “[their] responsibility to raise this issue”. “We should make the government punish the culprits because we are answerable to the people.” He suggested that the issue should be referred to the Sindh Assembly’s standing committee.
Information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon told the House that five Rangers personnel have been arrested and the police have lodged an FIR against them on the directives of the chief minister. Memon regretted that, “the boy was crying on the spot asking the Rangers personnel to take him to hospital but no one listened to him and he died from excessive bleeding”.
The federal government has also noticed the incident and Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has arrived to hold meetings, he said. Nevertheless, he added that, “due to negligence at the hands of some men, we cannot criticise and hold the entire paramilitary forces responsible. We should also look into their performance in controlling the law and order situation.”
The reporters covering the assembly proceedings boycotted the session because the Sindhi television channel Awaz’s cameraman, who had recorded a video of Rangers personnel shooting the young man, was receiving threats.
The cameraman, Abdul Salam Soomro, said that he received a phone call from an undisclosed number. The caller said, “You seem to like making footages. Take care of yourself”. The information minister reassured the journalists that cameramen would be given protection.
Soomro said that he was recording a weekly show at Benazir Bhutto Park on Boat Basin when a plainclothes man started shouting to the Rangers that he had caught a robber. The paramilitary personnel rushed to the man and arrested the young boy. “Two Rangers’ personnel were continuously threatening to shoot him as the boy begged for his life. They paid him no heed and opened fire anyway.”
‘90% chances of cyclone’
There is a 90 per cent chance that the cyclone would hit the Sindh and Balochistan coasts between Friday and Monday, said Fisheries Minister Zahid Bhurgari.
ANP boycotts session
Awami National Party’s Amanullah Mehsud complained that his party activists are being targeted across the city. “We don’t know why we are being victimised by the government. We cannot sit and take part in the proceedings until and unless the people involved in the target killings of our workers are arrested,” he said. Later, both ANP MPAs boycotted the session.
Income support
PPP MPA Dr Ahmed Ali Shah drew the attention of the House to irregularities in the Benazir Income Support Programme, under which subsidies are given to poor women in Sindh. He said that post office staff were misusing the funds, and instead of giving the amount to deserving people, they deposit the money into their personal accounts.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 10th, 2011.
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