NA panel calls for making LEAs subservient to law

Bilawal chairs maiden meeting of House committee on human rights

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights on Thursday took notice of a child’s death in police encounter in Karachi, stressing the need for making the law-enforcement agencies subservient to law.

The maiden meeting of the committee, with its chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in the chair, also took note of the shooting incident on the Makran Coastal Highway. During the meeting, the committee was briefed on the performance of various departments of the human rights ministry.

Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari told the committee that the government has decided to streamline the process of mercy petitions of the death penalty convicts. “The mercy appeals take a lot of time. The government will streamline this matter and it will be discussed in the next meeting,” she said.

Mazari also told the committee that the ministry has written letters to the provinces for implementation on transgender law. On the occasion, Human rights ministry secretary Javeria Agha said that the ministry had prepared nine bills in the last two years which included Zainab Alert Bill, and Hindu, Christian, Sikh marriage bills and the enforced disappearances bill.

Taking note of the killing of a child in Karachi, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that police encounters “isn’t just an issue of Sindh” but of the whole of the country. There is a need to bring law-enforcement agencies under law, he added.

Bilawal emphasised the need for the federal  govt to enact legislation for special-needs persons on the pattern of Sindh. Referring to the missing persons issue, he said that the ministry of human rights was working on this issue.

“If government is serious about missing persons issue, it should resolve it. If government did not do anything, the opposition parties will introduce the legislation in this regard .We won’t compromise on the economic, democratic and human rights of people,” he added.

During the meeting, the committee rejected a bill pertaining to the duration of appointment of the National Commission for Women chairperson. The members deferred discussion on another bill, regarding the special-needs people, until the next committee meeting.

Talking to the media later, Bhutto Zardari said that the committee took notice of child's death in police encounter in Karachi and called for making all the law-enforcement agencies under the ambit of the law. The committee also took notice of terrorism on Makran coastal highway. “Makran terrorism is intolerable and condemnable.”

He said that the committee members took up the matter of missing persons. He added that the committee also sought details of the case registered against a journalist in Karachi.