MPAs reject plea to abide by motor vehicle law

Resolu­tion on honour killin­gs seeks change­s in Pakist­an Penal Code.

KARACHI:

Public representatives are always averse to suggestions that would oblige them to comply with the law. And during the Sindh Assembly session on Tuesday, Arif Mustafa Jatoi of the National Peoples Party reminded his peers that they were breaking the law when they affixed party flags and private number and name plates to their vehicles.

He advised the MPAs to either give it up or legalise it as people cannot use plates other than the ones issued by the excise and taxation department. “If you want to continue with this practice then you have to make a law as the other provinces, Senate and National Assembly have done,” Jatoi said. He had prepared a private bill to tackle the issue.

But Pakistan Peoples Party MPAs, apparently taking this as an attack on their privileges, were quick to turn him down. It was only after much pressing that the PPP leader in the house, Pir Mazharul Haq, who initially said that they would oppose it, asked the speaker to let Jatoi table the motion.

A majority of MPAs rejected it with a few exceptions. Acting Speaker Muhammad Ali Shah declared the bill ‘rejected’ by a majority much to Jatoi’s anger.

Jatoi later told The Express Tribune that he insisted on counting the voting because many MPAs belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Pakistan Muslim League-F had voted in his favour.

Honour killing

The lawmakers unanimously adopted a resolution on treating a karo-kari murder as culpable homicide. They asked the Sindh government to approach the federal government to amend the Pakistan Penal Code.

The resolution was moved by Nusrat Seher Abbbasi of the PML-F. She reacted badly to Rafique Engineer, who said that these cases were already registered under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code. “You people are not willing to make legislation on women’s issues, especially honour killings.”  This created an uproar and women, even those belonging to the ruling party, stood up and supported the resolution, asking Abbasi to go ahead.

“We are against any compromise in honour killings. The killers should be hanged publically,” she said.  In December alone, 34 women have been killed and since January the toll is 575.

Water woes

Irrigation Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo informed the house that they would talk to the federal government about the industrial waste being dumped from Punjab into Ghotki. This topic was brought up by MQM MPA Heer Ismail Soho.

Factories in the Punjab had started releasing the waste in 1980 and Benazir Bhutto had taken a stand on the issue in 1988, but it continues today. Fertile land over a stretch of 15 kilometres has been destroyed.

PML-F’s Marvi Rashdi brought up news reports that the PPP government wanted two systems for rural and urban areas for development schemes. Law Minister Ayaz Soomro refuted this and stressed that the government would introduce one system in accordance with the 1973 Constitution.

For his part, PPP MPA Ghulam Qadir Chandio brought up the condition of the National Highway in Sindh which is floundering even though it generates Rs8 billion in revenue.

The speaker adjourned the session till today.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2011.