Opposition lawmakers on Thursday flaunted their credentials as fierce disability rights defenders as they directed barbs at the Punjab government over Wednesday’s wild baton charge on blind and disabled protesters in Lahore.
Members of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) walked out from the National Assembly in protest against the police highhandedness against the visually impaired persons.
On a point of order, JI parliamentary leader Sahibzada Tariqullah said that it was inhumane and barbaric to use force against disabled persons who were recording their protest by staging a sit-in at Lahore. “Instead of giving them their rights and boosting their morale, the government dealt violently with them,” said Tariqullah.
“Where is the harm in the president visiting them and boosting their morale instead of pushing them to the wall?” asked Tariqullah. He said that his party strongly denounced such unwanton attacks and demands stern action against the responsible police personnel. Mere suspension of these officers is not enough, he added.
Tariqullah also called upon the government to implement the two per cent quota specified for special persons in government jobs, which is their constitutionally guaranteed right. The JI lawmakers then walked out of the house.
MQM lawmaker Asif Hasnain seemed to pick off from where his JI counterpart left. He claimed that the Punjab police is not under the control of anyone as it acts unjustly against the protesters in the province repeatedly, whether it is the case of Model Town or the blind persons.
Hasnain said that the manhandling of innocent special persons exposes the brutalities of Punjab police. He underscored the need to reform the force.
However, PML-N lawmaker Rajab Ali Baloch defended the Punjab police, saying that he had seen the entire footage of the Lahore incident and he did not see any baton charge on the special people. He said that police was only pushing them off the road to pave the way for VIP movement.
Worries over IS emergence
MQM leader Abdul Rasheed Godel expressed concern over the appearance of wall chalking and distribution of literature in support of Islamic State group in Pakistan. He said that there are reports about the emergence of the militant organisation and its activities in Pakistan, but the government is in a state of denial.
“It seems that the government has closed its eyes and will wake up when the militants start occupying cities,” he said.
This week the MQM leader said the media reported that IS activists were arrested from Lahore, but the government has again chosen to remain silent over the issue.
He pointed out that his party chief Altaf Hussain had forewarned in 2009 that the Taliban were moving towards Karachi, but the warning was dismissed by the government as motivated by ethnic distrust. “Now it has been proven that 33 per cent of the city is under the direct control of Taliban,” he stated.
He said that Altaf Hussain has also warned the government about the activities of IS in Pakistan. “This [warning] should be taken seriously before it is too late,” he said.
He called upon the government to take MPs into confidence about who is behind the walk chalking and distribution of IS literature.
Separately , MQM leader Asif Hasnain protested that Sindh’s urban areas are being ignored. In the employment through Sindh Public Service Commission only 5% officials belongs to urban Sindh in the provincial administration.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2014.
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