An armed person described by many as a stuntman on Friday upset everyone during the Sindh Assembly sitting who, along with a private TV channel host managed to enter the hall of legislature to prove lax security arrangements for the legislators. Coming down to the assembly's floor from guests gallery, the show host of a show at private TV channel, ARY, Iqrar-ul-Hasan rattled the house with an alarm that a man possessing a fire arm was in the very hall.
Visibly upset by the situation, Speaker, Aga Siraj Durrani, asked for his identity - who was intentionally there. However, the assembly's officials took him back to the gallery where he asked the "stuntman" to hand over his pistol to the assembly officers. "It is extremely frightful. A journalist should know that no one can enter the assembly hall like this. We are ready for a frisk," Sindh Senior Education Minister, Nisar Khuhro, who reacted strongly to the unpleasant incident.
However, opposition supported the dangerous "TV stunt" and shouted 'shame shame'. MQM's legislator, who is also the opposition leader in the house, Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan remarked, "the incident presents a sardonic comment on the state of security arrangements inside the assembly". He asked how a man had easily made his way to the house with a weapon.
"Millions of rupees are spent on the assembly security but what is the gain at the end," he asked, saying that the assembly had already faced with serious threats from outlawed outfits. The Speaker asked the home minister, Anwar Siyal, to investigate the incident. On which, Siyal said that "those came with a fire arm will be first arrested," he replied.
The home minister also ordered suspension of all the assembly's security staff. He said if police or media men were found involved helping the "stuntman" enter the assembly would also be brought to justice. "The media men do not cooperate with the officials, rather they protest if they are asked for a frisk," he told the house.
Security officials however arrested the armed stuntman and the TV channel host and took them away from the house. The arrests triggered a noisy protest by the opposition shouting 'shame, shame'. "This man has exposed our security. He is not a criminal," Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan said. The home minister said that an inquiry report would be presented in the house.
"One of our lady legislators told me that the security officials had stopped this person at the gates but Iqrar-ul-Hasan requested them with a surety for his entry," Anwar Siyal told the house. A lady lawmaker of ruling PPP said that "while I was entering the assembly, the security officials had stopped Iqrar-ul-Hasan with his man at the main gate".
PTI's Samar Ali Khan said that "the security officials complain that people get angry over being frisked". He said that people walked into the assembly premises without a pass and security checks had been missing. "There are even cars without number plates," he said.
The Speaker asked for cancellation of all assembly entrance passes. "The incident of an armed person's entry into the assembly hall is very sad," Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, told reporters after the assembly sitting, saying "an action will be taken against this person". He said that the government would carry out legal action against all behind the incident.
Siyal told newsmen that a committee had been formed under the chairmanship of DIG Police, Munir Shaikh, to investigate the incident. "Whatever has happened is sad and a legal action will be taken against those found involved," he said. "One man's act made every journalist suspect in the eyes of security officials," Nisar Khuhro said and asked that TV channel's administration to take notice of Iqrar-ul-Hassan's act.
Reporters, cameramen and photographers covering the Sindh Assembly procedures staged a protest demonstration against the TV host and his armed companion and shouted slogans 'down with yellow journalism'. The passage of 'the Sindh Senior Citizens Act' made Sindh as the first province to provide welfare and various privileges to the aged people. In line with the legislation, the government will set up senior citizens' councils in different districts of the province with a headquarter in Karachi. The house also adopted 'the Sindh Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Bill 2015 and 'the Sindh Old Age Benefits (Amendment) Bill 2016'.
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