School attackers to be caught, vows CM

MQM says govt lacks plan to deal with threat to educational institutions

Karachi

The chief minister said on Friday that the grenade attacks on a school, a college, and police station in Karachi earlier in the day were cowardly acts and the terrorists who carried them out would soon be brought to task.

Qaim Ali Shah was responding during the provincial assembly on a point-of-attention question asked opposition leader in the House, Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Khawaja Izahrul Hassan.

The MQM MPA noted that terrorists had attacked a private school, a girls college, and a police station. Three children were injured in the attacks which had taken place within a span of one-and-a-half hour.

Hassan said terrorists were continuing to operate freely and the government was not preparing a comprehensive plan for the security of educational institutions in Karachi.

“If our educational institutions are not safe, then holding this assembly session is useless,” he added.

The chief minister said the government would provide security not only to schoolchildren, but every citizen of the province.

He added that the attacks that had occurred in Sindh were not as serious in nature as those taking place in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“We don’t have many resources but despite that we have taken better security measures than other province.”

Shah said it was not an easy task to provide security to over 40,000 schools in the province and the government had taken effective steps even with its limited resources.

Education minister Nisar Khhuro said the provincial government was aware of its responsibilities and had taken adequate measures to provide security to schools.

Hassan said a resolution for the security of schools had been submitted to the assembly secretariat and a debate should be held on it.

Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani assured Hassan that the resolution would be discussed on Monday.

Deaths in Thar

The opposition lawmakers staged a protests when deputy speaker Shehla Raza, who was chairing the session at the time, did not allow Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPA Sorath Thebo to table her adjournment motion on the deaths of children in Tharparkar.The opposition lawmakers shouted in the assembly demanding that Raza should explain as to why the adjournment motion had been turned down.

The proceedings were suspended for 10 minutes because of the opposition’s uproar.

Raza turned down the motion saying that the issue had earlier been discussed in the House.

Hassan said when the issue was discussed in the House, the death toll of children who had died of malnutrition in Tharparkar stood at 125, but now it had reached 170.

Khuhro said he wanted to speak on Tharparkar but first the opposition members would have to stop their protest.

Raza asked the opposition members to remain seated and stay calm but the shouting continued. The deputy speaker then adjourned the session till Monday.

MQM bills

Talking to reporters after the session was adjourned, Hassan said that the MQM would strongly react if the government created any hurdle on Monday in taking up the party’s resolution on schools’ security.

He said the MQM had submitted two amended bills on the Lyari Development Authority and the Malir Development Authority demanding that these authorities be handed over to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

He added that the two authorities should be under the mayor’s control.

Hassan also criticised Raza’s behaviour with opposition lawmakers.

“Her [Raza’s] attitude with opposition MPAs is arrogant and deplorable,” he added.

Replying to a question, Hassan said the show-of-hands law passed by the provincial assembly for the election of the mayor, the deputy mayor, the chairpersons, the vice chairpersons had been declared null and void by the high court and now they would conducted through secret balloting.