KARACHI - The Sindh Assembly on Thursday adopted a resolution unanimously against the brutal use of force by the Punjab police and the killings of several people including women in Lahore.
It demanded the Punjab government to take stern action against the police officials involved.
However, the provincial legislature witnessed rumpus and exchange of harsh words between the ruling PPP and opposition MPAs on different occasions during speeches on resolution and general discussion on budget, besides ‘Gulu Butt’, the man who caught smashing the private vehicles in presence of Lahore police, was echoed many times during the speeches of the lawmakers.
The House, which came in order at 10:30am with Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in the Chair on Thursday, suspended the question-hour and took up the resolution moved by Special Assistant to CM for Culture, Sharimila Farooque of PPP and Khawaja Izharul Haq of MQM against the killings and torture on the Pakistan Awami Party’s workers in Lahore.
Speaking in support of the resolution, Khawaja condemned the killings. He said the brutal use of police force by the Punjab government on the political workers including women in Lahore was a planned act of the PML-N.
“Gulu Butt was the chief of arms’ wing of the PML-N in Lahore, who was leading the police in torturing and killing the people and smashing the private cars. Though this entire incident was airing the whole day on the TV channels but Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in his press conference announced his lack of information regarding the incident which is strange for everyone,” MQM MPA alleged. He also condemned the Federal Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique for speaking against the MQM chief Altaf Hussain.
Sharmila Farooque said the Punjab had become a police state where drama of bloodshed was continued for 12 hours but the chief minister expressed lack of information about the incident. She said Gullu Butt should be Khadim-e-Aala of the Punjab as Shahbaz Sharif was not capable for this slot.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon termed that Gullu Butt was the interior minister of the Punjab who was leading the Lahore police in killing and torturing the people as well as smashing the private vehicles.
He also questioned the silence of the apex judiciary for not taking suo moto notice of the Lahore killings and police brutality. He termed former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry a dictator of the judiciary who gave dictatorial verdicts against the democratic government of the PPP.
PML-N’s parliamentary leader Irfanulah Marwat also condemned the police torture and termed the killings unfortunate. He said the PPP government should pay attention on the issues of the Sindh as situation in the province especially in Karachi was deteriorating.
Leader of Opposition, Shaharyar Khan Mahar said they condemned the Lahore incident but the situation was not different in Sindh also where Karachi airport was attacked. He said Gullu Butt did his hooliganism but Karachi was forcibly closed within hours. Senior Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said the opposition MPAs who were stopping them about talking against the Punjab incident were remained silent when Punjab Assembly members had declared him as an agent of Indian RAW. Senior minister’s remarks caused furore by the opposition MPAs of PML-N and PML-F which continued for a brief time. Later, the House passed the resolution unanimously.
It was surprising that the PTI, which was active in the Punjab Assembly against the Lahore incident, its MPAs remained silent during the discussion on resolution in Sindh Assembly.
Meanwhile, the uproar and exchange of harsh words between the PPP and the opposition MPAs witnessed several times during the general debate on the budget.
Nusrat Sehar Abbasi of PML-F and Dr Seema Zia of PTI in their speeches criticised the government over its alleged misgovernance and corruption in the province, the PPP members stood on their seats and objected on leveling allegations.
PTI’s Dr Seema said all the projects were named after Benazir, Bilawal and Asifa Bhutto but Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and others had served the province so why the projects had been given the name of them.
Her remarks invited anger from the PPP lawmakers who while pointing fingers to the PTI members said first you get martyred your leader and workers then talk about it. Imtiaz Shaikh of PML-F said his constituency Shikarpur and Karachi were ignored in the budget. He termed the installation of the Reverse Osmosis plants for water treatment a mega scandal in which huge amount of Rs33 billion was spent as all the contracts of RO plants from Thar to Karachi were given to the same company ‘East India Company of Sindh’. PTI’s Samar Ali Khan said the districts of interior Sindh were giving the look of destruction like Hiroshima as roads and other infrastructure were shattered. Later, the Speaker adjourned the sitting to meet again on Friday (today).