Sindh govt denies interfering in Karachi operation

Karachi
The Sindh government does not interfere with the affairs of law-enforcement agencies involved in the ongoing targeted operation in the city.
Sindh Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sikandar Mandhro, while responding to the call-attention notice of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Muhammad Hussain Khan, said that the provincial government had never ordered or recommended to the law enforcers to take action in a particular locality or against a specific person.
Hussain, in his notice, had called the House’s attention towards repeated incidents of illegal detention in Orangi Town.
According to him, residents were paying bribes to law enforcers to save themselves from being detained on false charges and asked the government about the steps being taken to mitigate the situation.
To this, the parliamentary affairs minister responded that the Sindh government did not interfere with the affairs of law-enforcement agencies.
If there are any complaints regarding illegal detentions by the law-enforcement agencies, he said, they should be lodged at the relevant police stations or at the office of anti-corruption establishment.
Mandhro said the law-enforcement agencies had been directed by the government to take action against criminals at their discretion across the country.
He said such complaints regarding their conduct should be registered with the competent authorities who would then take due action over the matter.

Status of women bill
A bill titled “Sindh Commission on the Status of Women Bill 2015” was introduced, envisaging the establishment of a commission by the Sindh government to work for the empowerment of women and protection of their rights.
According to the bill, the proposed commission will work autonomously and will also work for the implementation of women-related conventions and legislations under provincial, national and international laws.
Elaborating on the issue after the assembly session, Sindh minister for women development and social welfare, Rubina Saadat Qaimkhani said the proposed commission will strive for the implementation of national laws and international conventions regarding women so that Pakistan can move up to be one of the nations where the rights of females were fully safeguarded.

Power outages
A resolution tabled by Pakistan People’s Party MPA Dr Sohrab Khan Sarki calling on the federal ministry of water and power to alter the load shedding schedule in the province was unanimously passed by members of the House.
It also called on the Sindh government to approach the Centre for altering the load shedding schedule.
It was said that up to 22 hours of power outages in rural parts of the province, according the announcement of the federal ministry of water and power, would prove to be detrimental for industries, agriculture and businesses.
Substandard CNG cylinders
Transport minister Mumtaz Hussain Jakhrani informed the House that legislation would soon be introduced to propose a ban on the use of substandard CNG cylinders for transport vehicles.
He announced this while responding to the call-attention notice of opposition lawmaker, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional’s (PML-F) Nusrat Sehar Abbasi regarding frequent tragic accidents in Sindh due to use of substandard CNG cylinders by transporters.
The transport minister also apprised the House that his recently his department had been given the authority to check fitness of vehicles. He said officials were mulling over the decision of outsourcing vehicle inspection to a reputable firm.
Earlier, there was an uproar during the Sindh Assembly’s question hour when provincial ministers Sharjeel Inam Memon, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Syed Murad Ali Shah began agitating against the use of words “interior Sindh” by PML-F MPA Nusrat Sehar Abbasi.
She had asked about the persisting shortage of water and its polluted supply to Sukkur and “interior of Sindh” which had been causing disease outbreaks.
To this, the three PPP ministers began protesting, saying that the use of such words by Abbasi was tantamount to attacking the territorial unity of Sindh.
They said Sindh was only one entity, without any “interior or exterior” and lamented
that such words may be used to describe its areas.
When Abbasi attempted to clarify that the words may have been inserted as a mistake by the assembly secretariat, local government minister Sharjeel Memon retorted that he had
seen the lawmaker write the question down herself and the question posed was in her handwriting.
After much brouhaha over the matter, deputy speaker Shehla Raza thought it appropriate to get Abbasi’s remarks expunged from record while cautioning lawmakers to refrain from using such terms in the future.

Adjournment motion rejected
An adjournment motion presented by MQM MPA Muhammad Hussain Khan pertaining to non-release of funds by the Sindh government for ongoing development schemes under the Annual Development Programme in his constituency was rejected by deputy speaker Shehla Raza for not being according to the rules of procedure of the Sindh Assembly.­