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LAHORE, June 8: The opposition gave tough time to the treasury in the Punjab Assembly on Thursday over ‘worsening’ law and order in the province.
The session that began 80 minutes behind schedule saw opposition leader Qasim Zia demanding abolition of the provincial law department which, according to him, had totally failed in maintaining the law and order. “There is neither law nor order. Hence, there is no justification for keeping the department intact at a high cost.”
Quoting official figures, Zia said 100,000 fresh cases had been registered during the first four months of the current year, with the number of murder cases 1,600. “How the incumbent government can justify its stay in power in such circumstances,” he said, adding: “There has been a total chaos but the government is least concerned.”
Zia said the ‘official insensitivity’ could be gauged from the fact that the government dropped inquiry into the sugar crisis even before its formal start. People, he added, were dying with water-borne diseases but the government was relying on hollow slogans of providing clean water to people.
The opposition leader regretted that the chief minister was, on the other hand, spending huge sums of money on his public meetings meant for electioneering.
He said that opposition rallies were being blocked under Section 144 whereas the sitting ministers were leading processions even on the Mall. He said that salary and pension relief to a few hundred thousand government servants in a population of 150 million people was not a matter of pride for the government.
EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS: Frequent incidence of extra-judicial killing reverberated in the assembly when the opposition, on call attention notices, took up the matter, putting Law Minister Raja Basharat under pressure.
Rana Aftab of the PPP took the flour on a notice, asking the minister to explain a so-called encounter near Sadiqabad, Rahim Yar Khan district. Carrying pictures of the dead in police custody, Rana Aftab claimed that they were arrested and later killed in a fake encounter.
The minister maintained that it apparently seemed to be a genuine encounter in which a policeman was kidnapped by the culprits. He said all those killed in the encounter were criminals and had a long list of cases against them, including murders and dacoities. He regretted that Rana Aftab was favouring such people.
This provoked Rana who said that he had raised a genuine case of extra-judicial killing and was in possession of a solid proof as a local press photographer had taken pictures of the accused in custody and subsequent fake encounter. All these pictures had been published in local press, but the government was backing a police officer who was involved in around 16 such encounters and had six inquiries under way against him. “This is like encouraging police to kill more people,” he maintained.
The press shots, he said, showed the so-called culprits begging mercy and policemen firing at them. “In the presence of such a proof, how could the law minister was defending police?”
The minister said that a sessions judge was holding an inquiry. Those found guilty would be dealt with sternly, he said.
BOYCOTT: Newsmen covering the covering the assembly proceedings boycotted the session briefly to protest manhandling of journalists by police during a visit of Javed Hashmi and false cases registered against some newsmen in Bhakar.
The minister assured the press that the government would take the culprits to task and would also present a report in the house on Friday (today).
