Karachi violence: ANP calls for military, MQM walks out
The reaction to the latest bout of violence in Karachi spilt over into a second consecutive day in both houses of parliament, with Tuesday’s uproar picking up intensity.
Lawmakers from the Awami National Party (ANP) in the Senate demanded an immediate military operation in the troubled city, saying that the Sindh government had failed, while Karachi’s ruling party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), staged walkouts from both houses to register their protest against the government’s inaction.
“The army should immediately start an operation in Karachi to cleanse the city of anti-social elements,” demanded Senator Zahid Khan of the ANP.
“Please, order the military to begin a clean-up operation in Karachi where anarchy prevails. We witness bullet-riddled bodies scattered in the city [on a daily basis],” Khan said, while urging the government to call a spade a spade and declare that the provincial government has failed to handle the situation.
The opposition, however, does not see the need for a military operation.
MQM Senator Mustafa Kamal urged Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to put all other matters on hold and visit the city immediately.
“The prime minister should sit in Karachi to monitor the law-enforcement agencies’ operation,” he said, adding, “Emergency steps are needed to authoritatively resolve the issue of Karachi.”
The city, which has been plagued by targeted killings, is witnessing migration and people, particularly investors, are shifting their business abroad, Kamal warned.
Senator Ilyas Bilour of the ANP suggested that the prime minister hold day-to-day meetings with provincial authorities and save what he called ‘mini-Pakistani.’
Bilour further requested the Senate chairman to summon the prime minister to brief the house on the security situation of Karachi and Quetta. He wound up his protest after Law Minister Farooq H Naek gave lawmakers the assurance that he would forward their demands to the cabinet today (Wednesday). “I will also request Raja sahib to direct the interior minister to brief the house on this urgent issue,” Naek said.
MQM walkout
The silence of fellow treasury benchers on Karachi during Tuesday’s session of the National Assembly prompted the MQM to stage a walkout in protest.
MNA Dr Abdul Kadir Khanzada censured the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim Legaue-Nawaz (PML-N) for not responding to the surge of violence the city has witnessed this month.
“If the government does not change its attitude by Wednesday (today), we will boycott proceedings of the entire session,” Khanzada said, while announcing his party’s walkout from the house in order to register their protest.
Bushra Gohar from the ANP said that the government was lacking the political will to address Karachi’s problems and suggested the formation of a multi-party committee to oversee the issue of target killings in the city.
Meanwhile, MNA Maulvi Asmatullah said that the recent killings of students in Karachi are in line with a ‘foreign agenda’ to push the country into a new crisis.
Opposition’s take
The leading opposition party, PML-N, promptly rejected ANP’s demand for a military operation in the city. “The PML-N does not support an army operation in Karachi,” said Senator Mushahidullah Khan, urging coalition partners to join the opposition for fresh elections rather than protesting in parliament. “We only ask when the government will hold general elections,” he said.
Meanwhile in the lower house, the opposition questioned MQM’s protest, as MNA Sheikh Rohaeel Asghar said, in a satirical tone, “The Sindh governor belongs to the MQM which is also a coalition partner of the ruling alliance.
“I find it quite strange that the government itself is complaining against the government,” he added, while asking the MQM to quit the coalition government if it was really interested in solving the issues of Karachi as the government had failed.
Bills and resolutions
The Senate also passed a unanimous resolution to congratulate the Hindu community on Diwali.
During the course of proceedings, the Senate chairman constituted a special committee to probe a land scam in the Senate Housing Society.
The upper house also unanimously passed a bill on Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan on Tuesday, while.
The Senate chairman also referred a privilege motion to the Senate Privileges Committee against senior police officials of the Punjab Police over their alleged misbehavior against Senator Nabi Bangish.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2012.
COMMENTS (6)
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Leave all the Political Parties . WE NEED the ARMY to come in NOW . as no Police , no govt can solve this situation there will always be a war on Bhatta areas , a Fight between all Political Parties as they all are involved in Bhatta Mafia as how will they buy ammunition , how do they fund their rallies etc etc . We Citizens who are not a part of Any Political Party we request for the ARMY to come in we do not want their so called Democracy
Elections are not a solution under current situation. Same thugs will be sitting in parliment again.
Solution is to bring in technocratic govt who work closely with judiciary and military. One agenda, one target, one goal, no opposition. Bring the traitor to justice, punish terrorist.
Doing all above will free the country out of clutches of foreign hands. Then allow the elections to be conducted. This will ultimately bring the clean leadership above
On what basis MQM still thinks that people of karachi will still support them?
Pure dramay baaz. Everyone knows the reality of MQM and ANP. Huhh