KARACHI: The news of a cracker attack on a private school in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Tuesday cast a chill over the Sindh Assembly, reviving memories of the Peshawar school tragedy in December last year.

A horrified lawmaker belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Adnan Ahmad, after getting the nod from the chair to speak on his point of order asked the government about security measures that had been promised to ensure schools protection in the wake of the Peshawar tragedy.

Senior Education Minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro responding to the point of order said the government was prepared to give a briefing to the lawmakers on schools security measures taken by the government. He said the government had provided a checklist to schools to improve their security. As private schools were not providing free education, they had been asked to take security steps according to the checklist. He said the management of private schools had been asked to raise boundary walls, install barbed wire on them, ensure internal as well as external security around the gate and keep an eye on any suspicious movement.

The minister, however, did admit that despite all efforts, there were complaints against government schools security that was the responsibility of the education department. Perhaps it was for this reason that the incident occurred on Tuesday in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, he said, seeking suggestions from the lawmakers to improve the security further.

He said that in a meeting, which was presided over by the governor and was attended by law enforcers and representatives of private schools, it was decided that police and other law enforcers would patrol the vicinity of schools at their opening and closing time.

The possibility of some lapse could not be ruled out, he said and welcomed a proposal given by deputy parliamentary leader of the MQM Khwaja Izharul Hassan to share the checklist with the lawmakers. The minister said that a meeting would be called soon where their suggestions could be accommodated in the security plan.

Earlier, Mr Hassan said the government definitely had prepared a security plan for the schools and it would be appropriate if the members of the House were given a briefing and this plan was shared with them.

Giving details of the cracker attack, Mr Khuhro said there were some 25 schools in eight streets of Gulshan-i-Iqbal block-7 where no security effort was visible. He said when the schools were asked about it, their management said the government had not approached them so far. He said two crackers along with pamphlets were hurled on the school building by two motorcyclists at 6.45am. He said luckily there was no student at the school.

The pamphlet, he added, warned the school administration that they had targeted the school when it was not yet open but next time it would be attacked when it would be open.

The lawmaker asked the house as to how he should satisfy parents of the students. “Should we tell them to ask this question from the chief minister?” he asked.

After the point of order, the speaker adjourned the session to reassemble on Friday at 10am.

Earlier, the house was called to order at 10.40am by Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani. The privilege motion of Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim of PML-N, which was on the agenda, could not be taken up for want of his presence in the house after the questions hour.

The adjournment motion of Mohammad Hussain Khan of the MQM was opposed by Senior Minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro. The chair after hearing arguments on its admissibility termed the motion not maintainable and ruled it out of order.

Mr Khan moved a motion with reference to certain remarks by the education secretary in a seminar admitting that 100,000 ghost employees eating up billion of rupees from allocated funds of the education department every year. Mr Khuhro opposed the motion and said the speech at the seminar could not be made basis of the motion, because the remarks were made in some other context and it was not a matter of recent occurrence and related to 2013 report. The government had already declared the appointments illegal and stopped their salaries, he added.

The Sindh Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill 2014, which was tabled by MQM lawmaker Syed Khalid Ahmed, was introduced after it was not opposed by the education minister.

Besides, two resolutions were passed unanimously, while two others were rejected by the house and one was deferred till next the private member’s day.

The resolution moved by leader of the opposition Shaharyar Mahar about implementation of the charter of democracy for the appointment of leader of opposition as chairman of the public accounts committee, as being pursued by the National Assembly, was opposed by senior minister Khuhro saying that it was not mentioned in the rules of business or the constitution. According to the rules, the assembly had nominated from across the house seven lawmakers who were at liberty to elect anyone amongst themselves as chairman of the public accounts committee.

Earlier, Mr Mahar argued that the PPP that often mentioned sacrifices of Benazir Bhutto for the cause of democracy should honour her commitment made in the CoD by leaving the office of chairman of PAC to the leader of opposition.

The resolution of PML-F lawmaker Nusrat Sehar Abbasi regarding promotion of doctors awaiting for the past many years for want of service structure like other public servants. This practice forcing doctors to wait for promotion for 15 to 20 years was discouraging aspiring doctors to join the service. Opposing the resolution, Health Minister Dr Jam Mehtab Dahar said the government was taking measures to promote doctors according to the four-tier formula adopted in 1994.

Syed Sardar Ahmad and Mr Khan supported the resolution saying that despite the ongoing targeted killing and lawlessness, doctors were serving suffering humanity and declining them promotion amount to injustice and oppression.

The two resolutions, which were adopted unanimously, pertained to ensuring 650 megawatt supply to K-electric without any disruption from the national grid and to the non-implementation of five per cent job quota of minorities in government service. The resolutions related to the electricity and jobs were tabled by MQM Syed Khalid Ahmad and PML-F parliamentary leader Nand Kumar, respectively.

The last resolution from the agenda was tabled by PML-F lawmaker Saeed Khan Nizamani who drew attention of the house towards non-payment of salaries for the past 11 months to the Hurs discharging their duty in Sanghar in the SRP.

The resolution was deferred till Friday by the chair after Information Minister Sharjeel Memon gave assurance to the house to get the problem solved after getting details from the home department.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2015

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