KARACHI: Enraged at an alarming rise in street crime and killing of youth in robberies, opposition lawmakers belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) staged a noisy protest during the Sindh Assembly session on Friday and condemned the provincial government and police for failing to curb the menace before walking out of the house.

Their protest, however, attracted a strong reaction from treasury benches as the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) legislators defended the performance of the Sindh police and claimed that it had controlled street crime in the metropolis ‘to a large extent.’

The MQM-P legislators took a strong position right from the beginning of the session, looking well-prepared and organised to take up the issue of street crime on the floor of the house. After the recitation of the Holy Quran, the session, which was scheduled for the home minister Zia Lanjar to answer the questions raised by the members from both sides of the benches, witnessed uproar from the opposition MPAs.

As the home minister was taking up the questions, mainly from the opposition members, the MQM-P MPAs came up with harsh queries, questioning the role of police and the government’s strategy while condemning the “failure” of the law-enforcement agencies in the city.

Home minister defends police performance, says they have curbed crimes ‘to a large extent’

With many legislators talking at a time, the session became noisy and inaudible, pushing Speaker Awais Qadir Shah to intervene and ask the members from both sides to maintain the decorum.

However, his intervention failed to restore the order when the MQM-P MPAs stood up chanting slogans and raising the portraits of the victims who were killed during the past few weeks while resisting armed mugging attempts in different parts of the city. Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Ali Khursheedi defended his party’s colleagues and called their protest a “lifeline for the people of Karachi.”

“The law and order and peace in Karachi is crucial for all of us. We aren’t protesting for any fun. It’s not right the way to run the session,” he said. The calm and composed Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who was also in the House, too, expressed his displeasure over the opposition’s “way of protest” and called it “inappropriate” for opposition members to stand up from the seats and start speaking without seeking permission of the Speaker or waiting for their turn.

As the home minister was replying the questions of the members, the cross talk between the legislators of both sides continued.

MQM-P’s Qurat-ul-Ain Khan in her question sought the details of the police performance during past one month, criticising “the failure of the law enforcement agency” which allowed the bandits to “kill the youngsters of Karachi”.

The home minister defended the performance of the law enforcement agency which, he said, had ‘contained’ the crime rate in Karachi and increased the number of arrests of the suspects.

The MQM-P legislators in a strong reaction called the reply “unsatisfactory” and raised more questions for the minister. However, the legislators from the treasury benches came up with counter questions, apparently to put the MQM-P under pressure which allowed some political space and mileage to the ruling PPP.

First it was Sadia Javed of the PPP who asked the status of past trend when bodies stuffed in gunny bags were found in the city on a daily basis.

Then came Syeda Marvi Rashidi of the ruling party who asked the political association of Ajmal Pahari and Saulat Mirza and their fate after their arrests by the Karachi police.

The questions, which apparently were asked to target the MQM-P for its alleged history of violence in the past, triggered a protest from the opposition, which called it “a tactic” from the treasury benches to “divert the real issue of street crimes in Karachi.”

However, unconvinced by the opposition protest, Home Minister Lanjar agreed to reply the queries from female legislators one by one.

He said that it was Karachi police which had brought the trend of violence and body bags to an end through tireless efforts and sacrifices.

Referring to Saulat Mirza, he said the “convicted killer” had already met his fate under the law while he wasn’t aware about the current status of Ajmal Pahari.

“Ajmal Pahari was also arrested by Karachi police and put behind bars but I don’t know where he’s now. I even don’t know if he has been released on court orders or through some executive order,” he said.

On this, MQM-P MPA Bilquees Mukhtar put a question from her side, seeking details of the alleged gangsters Rahman Dakait and Uzair Baloch who “ruthlessly killed people of Karachi and extorted money from the businessmen”.

The minister replied that the Karachi police had “eliminated Rahman Dakait” in an encounter and Uzair Baloch was also behind bars, facing several cases of heinous crimes.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2024