Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Tuesday staged a token walkout from the National Assembly in protest against what it said the killings of its workers in the ongoing Rangers-led operation in Karachi. Muhammad Kamal Malik of MQM while speaking on the floor of the Lower House said the Rangers' operation in Karachi that has been continuing for the last three years has become highly controversial. He claimed only MQM workers are being killed after they are brutally subjected to torture. He said the operation should be conducted across the board.
"Our worker Aftab Ahmed was tortured to death. We are being termed Research and Analysis Wing's (RAW) agents. Justice is not being provided to us at any place," he said. He said that his party has no expectations of justice from the Sindh government. He said as compared to the 'Green Line' project the provision of water is more important to the people of Karachi. Afterward, the MQM members staged a token walk out from the House in protest against the killings of their workers.
Later, the House adopted three separate resolutions relating to improvement of maternal health facilities, price hike and Bara Kahu housing scheme. Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) moved a resolution urging the government to take effective steps to improve maternal health facilities in federal hospitals in order to reduce child and maternal mortality.
The second resolution was moved by Nikhat Shakeel Khan. The government was urged to take immediate steps to control price hike in the country while third resolution was presented by Tahira Aurangzeb in the House which urged the government to take immediate measures to complete Bara Kahu Housing Scheme for federal government employees. Muhammad Talal Chaudhry of PML-N said that wrong figures are being presented about the attendance of members in the House. He said the House should be informed about it. Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that a total of 171 members of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) participated in the proceeding of the House on Monday.
Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz also told the National Assembly that operation Zarb-e-Azb has been continuing successfully. Responding to a calling Attention notice, he said that as a result of the operation law and order situation has improved significantly. He pointed out that incidents of terrorism reduced to half in last year as compared to 2014, which will further decrease during the current year.
Three bills were also introduced in the House and the Speaker National Assembly referred them to relevant standing committees for further deliberation. These are "The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2016", "The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and "The Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2016". These bills were moved by Kishwar Zehra, Dr Nikhat Shakeel Khan and Shahida Rehmani.
The House deferred the introduction of the Pakistan Minorities Rights Commission Bill, 2016 and the Protection of Minorities Bill, 2016 on request of the relevant lawmakers while the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (Amendment of Article 142) and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (Amendment of Articles 5 & 6) were dropped due to absence of members in-charge.
The House also deferred the consideration of the Law Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2014. The House rejected two separate motions of MQM and PML-N lawmakers to amend the National Assembly's Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business. Earlier, following the opening of the session chaired by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq with the recitation of Holy Quran MNA Jamshed Dasti pointed out the quorum over which the session was adjourned for 40 minutes. The session restarted 40 minutes later after the quorum was completed.
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