Wait a second, say PPP MPAs, kidnappings haven’t disappeared in our districts

Hargun Das Ahoja of the MQM said the kidnapping for ransom and extortion racket had made lives miserable.

KARACHI:

Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah’s claim that the law and order situation in Sindh has been controlled was countered by his own party’s MPAs and members of the coalition (the MQM) during the Sindh Assembly session on Tuesday. 

They came up with counter claims that the kidnappings for ransom and tribal clashes were on the rise in upper Sindh because the CM had said that the government had cleaned up the area in its four years in government.

Larkana’s Hargun Das Ahoja of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement said the kidnapping for ransom and extortion racket had made lives miserable. It is so unsafe that people cannot leave their homes after sunset. He said that the situation in rural Sindh was worse than that of Karachi.

Agha Taimoor Pathan of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party said that the people of Shikarpur and Kashmore have more weapons than those of Lyari and other areas of Karachi. He referred to a tribal clash in his Shikarpur district where 27 people were killed some time ago. He said that not only the government, but elected representatives were also not doing a good job to contain crime in the area.

Heer Ismail Soho of the MQM said that more than 309 women were murdered and 246 were kidnapped in 2010 in Sindh. Last year 255 women were killed and 152 were kidnapped. “These are registered cases compiled by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Aurat Foundation,” she said.

Due to tribal clashes in Shikarpur, Ghotki, Jacobabad and Kashmore districts many schools and hospitals are closed and people attack each other’s villages with rockets.

Syed Sardar Ahmed of the MQM, said that the situation had grown worse after Ziaul Haq’s tenure when heroin and a Kalashnikov culture was introduced in the province. The SHO’s tenure must be fixed at two years in one place.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2012.