Army deployment: MQM calls Sindh assembly session over law and order

MQM leaders moved an application containing signatures of 43 MPAs of the party.

KARACHI:

After a day-long debate to call the armed forces in Karachi, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) submitted a requisition in Sindh Assembly on Wednesday, requesting the speaker, Agha Siraj Durrani, to summon a session on this issue.

MQM parliamentary leader Syed Sardar Ahmed and MQM’s deputy parliamentary leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan moved an application containing the signature of 43 MPAs of their party. “Since police and Rangers have failed to maintain law and order in Karachi, we requested a Sindh Assembly session over the situation and demanded Karachi be handed over to the army,” Ahmed informed the media after submitting the application at the assembly’s secretariat.

The parliamentary leader, while referring to the rules and procedure of the provincial assembly, said that after the requisition is submitted, the speaker had to summon the session within two weeks. “If the session is not called on our request and the government tries to summon its own, we will move an adjournment motion requesting to suspend all proceedings in the session to discuss the law and order situation and the role of armed forces,” he added.

The deputy parliamentary leader was of the view that calling the armed forces for maintaining peace was not against the constitution and democratic values. “In the past, the role of armed forces has been significant in civilian matters, especially during floods and earthquake. Those opposing the party’s idea about the deployment of army should look at the crime rate, killings in Karachi and the government efforts to deal with the same in the last five years,” he lamented.

Hassan said that everyday 20 innocent persons were being killed and extortionists had made the lives of the business community miserable. “We do not demand the imposition of governor rule in Sindh, but want to put the city under the control of army because people belonging to all walks of life, including the business community, have lost trust in the provincial government,” he said.

On the other hand, there were reports that Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has asked the law department to summon the assembly session. Official sources said that the law department in consultation with the assembly’s speaker will fix a date before requesting the governor to call the session. Till the filing of this report, the relevant officials were busy in a meeting.  Sindh Assembly’s acting secretary GM Farooq Buriro said the government also intended to summon the session but no date had been finalised as yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2013.