The combined opposition on Thursday took the Senate hostage amid ear-bursting slogans and desk thumbing against what they called killing of dozens of innocent political activists in Karachi on May 12, compelling the chair to adjourn the House within a five minutes of its start.
Soon after the recitation from the Holy Quran, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan Khan Niazi wanted to take the floor, but he was interrupted by the Senators of the combined opposition raising anti- government slogans and desk thumbing.
Opposition leader in Senate Mian Raza Rabbani shouted anti-government slogans saying that no more state terrorism would be acceptable, which, he said, would be dealt with iron hands. Initially, Chairman Senate Mohammad Mian Soomro tried to handle the situation but he had to adjourn the House till 10:30 on Friday after failing to tackle the uproar situation in the House.
Later, at a joint press conference in the Parliament House, the combined opposition demanded of the government to resign and say good-bye to the power corridors. They also urged to hold free, fair and transparent elections for what they termed to save the country from further devastation. Senator Raza Rabbani strongly refuted Prime Minister's visit to Karachi saying that instead of visiting the victim families, he (PM) expressed solidarity with Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). He questioned that whether the people who were brutally murdered by the state-sponsored terrorists in Karachi were not the citizens of Pakistan.
He also criticised the statements of both President and Prime Minister, which he termed tantamount to supporting the terrorist elements responsible for the killing of peaceful political activists in Karachi on May 12.
Rabbani highlighted that the present government had failed to maintain law and order situation so it must step down without further pushing the country to the deep crisis. He claimed that law enforcement agencies continuously remained engaged in providing latest information to the prime minister about Karachi on May 12, but he (PM) did not bother to take any step to control the situation.
Suppose, if the state-run agencies did not inform him, he might have seen all that on the Television screen, he added. The leader also condemned the advertisement by the Information Ministry with title "Karachi needs a healing touch". "Yes, the Karachi requires healing touch but only the opposition parties could give it to the Karachiites, he added.
"Karachi is not the property of any single party", he added. Rabbani also condemned the arrest of former DIG police from the Constitution Avenue and keeping him in different jails of Sindh to clear all evidences related to the case of Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
All the incidents from attacking the house of Chief Justice's lawyer Munir A Malik to the killing of Registrar of Supreme Court Hamad Raza was pre-planned patterns of the government to terrorise the nation, he claimed.
Asfandyar Wali said from Tank to Peshawar, there was not a single place, which could be considered as a safe one. He said it was the prime responsibility of the government to safeguard life and property of the masses and it was a good time for the government to become aware of the situation.
Senator Ishque Dar of PML-N said that Prime Minister's statement in favour of MQM was supporting the Opposition's claim that the Karachi tragedy was a pre-planned. The war, he said, had started now would be taken to a logical conclusion. Senator Khalid Soomro said that General Musharraf was patronising and supporting the killers of innocent people. He asked for the arrest of those involved in Karachi incident adding why the killers were not being arrested.