KARACHI: A lawmaker belonging to the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party demanded the resignation of Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed for the Tezgam train tragedy that left 74 passengers dead in Rahim Yar Khan as his party colleagues in the house agreed.

“This tragedy has gravely affected Sindh, my Mirpurkhas district in particular, as most of the victims hailed from there,” said MPA Zulfiqar Shah while speaking on a point of order during the Sindh Assembly’s session chaired by Deputy Speaker Rehana Laghari.

He said initial reports suggested that the fire was caused by short-circuit, thus “it is the railways ministry that should bear the onus of the entire episode”.

Furore over ‘inhuman’ treatment of train fire victims’ bodies; PTI’s motion regarding 57,000 absconders declared non-maintainable

He said being the federal minister for railways, Mr Ahmed should resign from the office or the federal government should dismiss him.

“Our selected Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised time and again in his lectures before the general elections that he would take no time in dismissing a minister in his cabinet if he found him or her not apt in discharging one’s duties. Mr Prime Minister! The time has just arrived,” he said amid mild uncomfortable noise by lawmakers belonging to the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

He said the PM should keep his promise and dismiss the railways minister for a blunder that deprived so many people of their precious lives.

Mr Shah said most of the victims of the train incident belonged to Sindh, as many of the passengers killed and wounded belonged to Mirpurkhas.

“I have attended funerals of six such victims in Mirpurkhas just today,” he said, adding that the heart-rending incident had wrapped the entire Mirpurkhas district in gloom. “This incident has deprived our district of many talented and intelligent people. We are all equally sad and heartbroken.”

He claimed that the bodies had been handled in a “dishonourable” way while being sent to hospitals. He said a video that went viral on social media clearly showed that the bodies were “inhumanly thrown on a truck”.

“Such treatment to the dead is not acceptable in any civilised society and being Muslims this is utterly disgraceful and inhuman conduct. You criticise the Sindh healthcare system, but at least bodies of the dead are not thrown on trucks like that in Sindh.”

The PPP lawmaker said the compensation announced by the federal government (Rs1.5 million for the dead and Rs500,000 for the wounded) was insufficient.

Centre accused of politicising the tragedy

He demanded that the Sindh government announce compensation for the families who had been affected by the tragedy.

Mr Shah said there were still many bodies that had not yet been identified and the authorities in Sindh had sought information about the identification of the victims. However, the Punjab government had not responded.

He demanded the Sindh government send its ambulances to Punjab if the latter was deficient in that area. “This incident should [not] have been politicised by anyone, but the federal government is doing this only to cover up its ineptitude.”

Upon the lawmaker’s request that the Sindh government should respond to his statement, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla stood, but he was not amused with certain remarks and utterances of PTI members.

He blamed the opposition for “making mockery of a serious human issue”.

He said that the Sindh government could send ambulances if the Punjab government was facing difficulties in finding the required emergency vehicles.

Conditions of North Nazimabad highlighted

Earlier, PTI’s Imran Shah moved a calling-attention notice highlighting the dilapidated condition of the streets of North Nazimabad, particularly, the streets of blocks A, H, J, R, F and I.

“Those streets are giving the look of an archaeological site. The accidental falls of residents in potholes [has] become a norm,” said Mr Shah.

Parliamentary secretary for local government Saleem Baloch assured him that the authorities concerned had been directed to do the necessary patchwork and carpeting of streets.

Shahnawaz Jadoon of the PTI said the condition of Massan Road in his Keamari constituency was deplorable and despite raising that matter time and again, no action on the part of the government had been taken.

Mr Baloch said that the Sindh government had already allocated Rs180m to improve the street and tenders would be issued in coming three weeks.

Work on K-IV to resume soon, PA told

PTI’s Jamal Siddiqui asked the government to inform the house about measures being taken to increase the existing deficient water supply to the provincial capital.

Mr Baloch said work on the delayed K-IV project would “soon” resume since all bottlenecks in its way had been sorted out. He hoped the federal government would chip in with the contribution it had promised for the project. He said a number of other projects to improve water supply to the city would soon be completed.

PTI’s Saeed Ahmed did not press his privilege motion that he had moved on the “non-serious attitude” of the secretary of universities and boards department. He said the official concerned was not properly responding to his queries as to why universities were not according affiliation to new colleges, including the college of nursing.

Minister Chawla said the matter would be sorted out by Monday.

Khurrum Sher Zaman of the PTI in his adjournment motion raised the issue of 57,000 absconders in the province, including 22,000 alone in Karachi.

While speaking on the motion, he claimed that the quorum was not complete. Deputy Speaker Laghari got the members counted and found the quorum was complete. She said the PTI lawmaker was trying to waste the time of the house.

Minister Chawla opposed the adjournment motion and the chair ruled it out of order as it was not maintainable.

The government introduced three bills — The Sindh Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2019; The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019; and The Sindh Charities Registration and Regulation Bill, 2019.

Upon the request of the ministers concerned the three bills were referred to the standing committees for further consideration for a maximum of two weeks.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2019