Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Wednesday strongly objected to deployment of paramilitary forces, especially Rangers, in three smaller provinces. Speaking on a point of public importance in Senate, Colonel Syed Tahir Hussain Mashahdi (Retd), said that why Punjab is being exempted from the services of federal forces, while the remaining three provinces - Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - have been handed over to paramilitary forces under the "pretext" of poor law and order.
"Don't you see what is going on in Punjab? But the government is not ready to send Rangers there as it is governed by a particular political party which has its government in the center," he added. The MQM said the Rangers are losing moral authority in Sindh. "Whether Rangers or FC (Frontier Constabulary), they must respect the sentiments of people," he added.
According to MQM Senator, Rangers in Sindh are acting as 'jurists and prosecutors' while on the book, they are there in aid of civilian forces to maintain the law and order situation. He said there is full scale operation in one city of Sindh, which he said is going without any check and monitoring. "The government has committed to forming a monitoring committee but then it was never constituted," he said. He warned that if the federal government failed to take notice of the "operation" against one political party, it is certainly going to affect the teething democracy as well the governance.
"Punjab is the most troubled province but there is no operation there," he said, adding the operation should be across the board instead of targeting a single political party without any solid reason. "Deploy Rangers in Punjab as it needs the most. The crime rate is rising with each passing day so use the Rangers in Punjab in order to ensure an across-the-board operation to get rid of militancy and other things," he added.
Referring to media reports about kidnappings of some 200 children in different parts of Lahore during the last six months, Senator Khushbakht Shujaat of MQM said that child kidnappings have phenomenally increased. The increase in the number of child abductions is alarming, which she said happened after some parents forcibly sent their children to seminaries, while some cases took place due to poverty and domestic problems. "The police have recovered the 200 children kidnapped during the last six months, but why there is no check on these cases. Why the government is not taking the issue seriously," she said, adding that nobody knows the number of such cases that go unreported. The Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid laid 'the third quarterly report for 2015-16' of Central Board of Directors of State Bank of Pakistan on the state of economy, as required under section 9A (f) of State Bank of Pakistan Act, 1956.
RESOLUTION FOR TURKEY The Senate passed a unanimous resolution, paying tributes to the people of Turkey for thwarting the military coup in their country. The resolution moved by Azam Khan Swati stated that the House admires, congratulates and pays tributes to brave people of Turkey who foiled the military coup and saved their country from anarchy and civil war.
The resolution admired all opposition political parties of Turkey for their strong resolve to protect democracy. Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani said that the resolution was passed as it was the will of both treasury and opposition members', adding he has no idea whether it is right or wrong to pass a resolution on the internal matters of a country.
The Senate was informed on Wednesday that the issue of violations of Line of Control by India has been raised at the United Nations Security Council. Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid told the House during a question-hour that a letter was written to the United Nations Security Council that was circulated among all its members to apprise them about the gravity of the situation. He said India has erected 460 kilometer long fence along the Line of Control. He said the fence is 500 meter away from the LoC. To a question, he said that government has decided to place the matter of review of land reforms before the Council of Common Interests.