KARACHI: A woman lawmaker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, who is the widow of MQM worker Farooq Patni alias Dada, on Tuesday demanded an apology from Information Minister Sharjeel Memon for calling her husband a ‘notorious terrorist’, and told the house that her husband was killed in front of her in a ‘staged encounter’ in Aug 1995.

An emotionally charged Shazia Patni stood up on a point of personal explanation as soon as the house offered Fateha for departed souls and protested against the information minister who had on Monday dubbed her late husband as a notorious terrorist.

She said that she was not present in the house on Monday and as soon as she got information about the minister’s allegations she rushed to the assembly but the sitting had already been adjourned for the day by the time she reached there.

Ms Patni told the house that on Aug 2, 1995 her husband Farooq along with her three brothers and father was arrested from their house. Her husband was killed in an extrajudicial manner before her eyes on the orders of the then interior minister Naseerullah Babar and the police claimed that he was killed in an encounter, she added.

She said she was also arrested and later sent to Adiala prison. “I was pregnant at the time of [my] arrest, even then I was brutally tortured in prison.”

Narrating her woes with a choked voice, the MPA claimed that Naseerullah Babar later apologised for the murder of her husband and also offered her money which she declined to accept.

Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani advised the lawmaker to move a formal motion in this regard.

She said the statement of minister Memon had hurt her feelings and as such the minister should tender an apology to her from the floor of the house. At this point she burst into tears and other MQM woman lawmakers tried to console her.

Mr Memon was not present in the house when she was narrating her ordeal.

Deputy parliamentary party leader of the MQM Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hassan tried to pacify her and said that Mr Memon might not be aware of the fact that the widow of Farooq Patni was also a member of this house.

He said that it should not be made a tradition to insult the “martyrs” of others.

He asked the women lawmakers of the PPP to realise the pain of a woman who did not get justice.

After the question-hour, MQM Lawmaker Muhammad Hussain read out his privilege motion but did not press further after parliamentary affairs minister Dr Sikander Mandhro assured him that the quarterly report on releases and utilisation of the budget would be presented before the house for general discussion in the next session.

The adjournment motion of Leader of the Opposition Shahryar Mahar was disposed of after the assurance given by provincial ministers Dr Mandhro and Mumtaz Hussain Jakhrani that the fares of transport would be reduced according to the reduction in prices of the petrol and diesel.

In the motion, Mr Mahar had pointed out that the prices of petrol and diesel had come down 10 per cent from the rates of 2012 but the transporter had not reduced the fares of the public transport.

Two resolutions adopted unanimously

Two out of five resolutions were taken up and adopted unanimously on Tuesday, which was the private members day.

Through one resolution, MQM lawmaker Zafar Ahmed Kamali recommended to the Sindh government to approach the federal government for the revival of a train service operated from Karachi and Hyderabad to Mirpurkhas, especially Mehran Express and Shah Latif Express which were disbanded in the wake of violent incidents following the Dec 27, 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Mr Kamali said both Mehran Express and Shah Latif Express cater to the need of people of Mirpurkhas, which was the fourth biggest city of Sindh, but the suspension of the train service not only deprived the people a cheap transportation mode but also hurt business community of the safest mode of travel.

The resolution was supported by some two dozen lawmakers and passed unanimously.

The house also unanimously adopted a resolution tabled by PPP lawmaker Khairunnisa Mughal in which she stated that cases of breast cancer were alarmingly rising in the province. The late diagnosis of the disease was leading to the death of women for want of awareness, she added.

The resolution was supported by other lawmakers who asked the provincial government to establish breast cancer diagnostic centres in each district.

‘Shrine to save Karachi from Nilofar’

The issue of Nilofar cyclone also came up for discussion when MQM lawmaker Irum Azeem on a point of order drew the attention of the house about the threats to the coastal areas due to the cyclone. “What measures the government has taken to meet this emergency situation,” she asked.

Speaker Durrani said that Karachi had the shrine of Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi, whose presence had saved us in the past and now would also save.

He said those who were afraid of the cyclone could go to interior of Sindh.

Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, who also holds the portfolio of the local government, said that the government had taken all necessary measures to avert any disaster from the cyclone.

Emergency had been declared in Ibrahim Haideri, Mubarak Village, Thatta, Keti Bunder and other coastal areas, while leaves of medical staff and other employees of essential services had been cancelled.

In Karachi, he said leaves of employees of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board were cancelled while commissioner and KMC administrator were also in touch with institutions concerned.

Mr Memon said that the Sindh government was also in contact with the meteorological department and all fishermen who had gone for fishing in the sea were warned of the expected cyclone and asked to return immediately.

After completion of the agenda, the chair adjourned the sitting till Nov 10.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2014