Ruckus hit the Sindh Assembly proceeding on Tuesday, when Muttahida Qaumi Movement's lawmakers protested against rejection of their adjournment motion about the alleged 'extrajudicial' killings of their party workers. When Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza rejected the adjournment motion terming it against the rules, the MQM lawmakers started noisy protest, which created pandemonium, leading to adjournment of the house proceeding till Friday.
The mover of the motion, Muhammad Hussain, contended that his party workers were being killed extrajudicially. He said the people in the city were feeling insecure and panicked. He said people were being picked up before their family members and even lodging of FIRs with the police did not help their release. He said three MQM workers were picked up during police and Rangers operation, whose bodies were recovered some three days later.
However, treasury members said that it cannot be easily proved that such killings were extrajudicial. The PPP lawmakers opposed the motion however they expressed their sympathies over the killings. Sindh Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro said that the adjournment motion did not meet the assembly's rules. Muhammad Hussain tried to prove that the motion is admissible for a debate and called the killings as a 'public issue.'
He said that people in the city were kidnapped and then their bodies were thrown out on the streets. MQM's Parliamentary Leader Syed Sardar Ahmed said the extrajudicial meant that the killings were not carried out on court's orders. He insisted the motion was as per the rules and should be admitted for discussion.
MQM's Deputy Parliamentary leader Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hasan said the Sindh Government should be held responsible for crimes in the province. He said the government should bring peopled charged with crimes to the court for a trial. He said MQM will not back the criminals. MQM MPA Amir Moin Pirzada said that MQM worker Tahir was picked up from party's unit 132 office in Qasba, but all law enforcing agencies deny they had not picked him.
Dr Mandhro said there are no proofs that any other department had carried out the alleged extrajudicial killings, and the adjournment motion is based on 'presumption'. Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon condemned the killings but questioned as what barometer will determine such incidents are extrajudicial. He said that all killings whether these are targeted or extrajudicial are condemnable.
He urged that there is a need to keep a difference between targeted and extrajudicial killings. He assured the house that the government would take stern action against illegal act. He asked the MQM lawmakers to substantiate their claims with evidence that the law enforcing departments have picked up their party workers. He said without any evidence it is unfair to blame the national institutions and the government for such incidents.
Sindh Senior Minister for Education Nisar Khuhro said the adjournment motion should be based on a specific incident for admissibility, adding that the hearsay or presumption cannot justify any motion for discussion. He said any killing that takes place on the streets is a crime, which the court never orders. Deputy Speaker before giving her ruling on the motion said that the debate on admissibility of the move has exceeded its time limits of 30 minutes. She said the motion failed to mention a specific incident for a debate in the house and called it against the rules.
During her speech, MQM lawmakers stood up from their seats and started chanting.They torn up the copies of daily business and tossed up in the air. "We will not tolerate the unjust rules," they chanted. During the MQM lawmakers protest, PTI legislator Khuram Sher Zaman tabled a resolution which the house adopted with a majority vote. Deputy Speaker asked the MQM's protesting legislators to table their resolution that was against the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance but they did not pay any heed on her call.
The pandemonium grew to the extent that hit the house proceedings, forcing the Deputy Speaker to adjourn the sitting till Friday morning. Earlier, Sharjeel Memon said the law enforcing agencies were indiscriminately carrying out their operations against the outlaws in the city. He appreciated the police and Rangers officials for their services to the nation against the terrorism. Opposition leader Faisal Sabzwari on a point of order asked that five MQM workers, who have been kidnapped, were in police custody or not. "If they are not in police custody, then which department is holding them," he asked.
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