Sindh Assembly during question hour on Tuesday was told that 268 women were raped in the province during 2004, including 108 in Karachi. In all, 268 cases had been registered and legal proceedings were at different stages.
Speaker Muzaffar Husein Shah was in the chair when the session, scheduled for 9 am, commenced at 11:15 am.
Provincial Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui was not present in the House. On his behalf, Planning and Development Minister Shoaib Bukhari replied supplementary questions.
He said that in district Hyderabad 36 cases, Dadu 8, Badin 11, Thatta 2, Mirpurkhas 13, Umerkot 3, Sanghar 20, Tharparkar 4, Sukkur 10, Nawabshah 4, Ghotki 9, Khairpur 6, Jacobabad 5 and Larkana 29 cases were registered during the period under review.
He said that from districts Jamshoro, Shikarpur, Naushero Feroz, Shahdadkot and Kashmore no case of rape was reported.
During question hour, when the session was presided over by Farhad Jatoi from treasury as chairman, there was comparative calm, and members focused on questions and answers. Female members asked more questions than their male colleagues.
Shoai in response to a question said that none of the cases, which came to the knowledge of the government, was ignore. All cases were registered and given priority for investigation purposes. But cases could be registered only when victims reported the matter to the police, he added.
He said that it was "pure humbug" that the home minister and the Sindh Government had issued statements that rape victims would be assisted in getting visas to go abroad.
Bukhari said that if unreported cases were brought to the notice of the government they would be registered and the victims would be given protection. Not only this, but they would also be assisted in getting justice, he added.
He, however, said that it was on the court to hasten the process of disposal of cases and to provide justice to the wronged person as the police after completing its work present the case before the court for disposal. "We wish decision could take less time," he added.
Regarding Public Safety Commission, Minister Siddiqui in his written reply said that Rs 1.750 million and Rs 5 million were allocated in 2003-04, 2004-05 budgets for establishment of this Commission.
These funds could not be utilised fully as these came from the Asian Development Bank through Government of Pakistan in the head 'Access to Justice Programme'.
On a supplementary question Bukhari explained the functioning of PSC and the idea behind this new institution. He said that at present the Commission was working in 12 districts and in the remaining districts arrangements were being made to set up this commission.
In written reply to a question from Humaira Alwani, Minister Siddiqui said that during 2004 three cases of child smuggling for the purpose of camel racing in the UAE were reported.
Bukhari said that the UAE Government had recently enforced strict laws to curb child smuggling for camel race purposes. He said that there was substantial decline in this crime against children.
At one stage, a former minister Imtiaz Shaikh tried to raise NFC issue but it could not be taken up for detailed discussion.
Sindh Assembly was prorogued after remaining in session for 10 days. Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah read out the order of Sindh Governor adjourning the session sine die.
Earlier the House passed three resolutions and also carried all the amendments in the Ziauddin Medical University (Amendment) Bill, 2003 as suggested by Sindh Governor in his message.
The three private resolutions passed were (1) regarding Northern Bypass and Lyari Rxpressway by Abdul Sattar Ansari, (2) regarding the report of A.N.G. Abbasi's Technical Committee on Water by Fariha Razzak Haroon and (3) regarding reactivation and bring into order the most of SCARP tube wells by Ahsan Ali Jatoi.
The House on Tuesday also nominated MPAs Arbab Abdullah, Karim Dino Shah, Jalal Hyder and Ahsan Ali Jatoi as members on Sindh Coal Authority Board.
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