MQM demands release of mayor, other ‘political’ prisoners

The lawmakers of the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement demanded in the provincial assembly on Friday that all innocent political prisoners including Karachi mayor Waseem Akhtar should be released at the earliest.

Jailed MQM MPA Abdul Rauf Siddiqui, who was brought to the assembly from the central prison to attend the session, while speaking on a point of order said innocent political prisoners should be released immediately.

“During my time in prison I have learnt about the hardships faced by inmates,” he added.

Siddiqui said he had brought a letter on behalf of his inmates and addressed to the chief minister and speaker so that their issues could be resolved.

“Political prisoners including Kanwar Naveed Jamil, Waseem Akhtar, Shiraz Waheed, and Qamar Mansoor should be released so that an atmosphere of harmony can be promoted in the province,” he added.

Speaking on the issue, MQM MPA and leader of the opposition Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan said there were not hundreds but thousands of political prisoners and many of them waiting for the disposal of the criminal cases lodged against them.  

The opposition leader said the issue in question was a sensitive and serious and the process of releasing innocent prisoners should set into motion quickly. He said the reservations of the families of the innocent jailed political activists must be taken into consideration.

 

Aug 22 violence

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah told the House that geo-fencing had been conducted in connection with the violence that occurred in the surroundings of the Karachi Press Club on August 22.

He added that some of the miscreants involved in the violence had taken refuge in a bank and later all of them were arrested.

The chief minister, who holds the additional portfolio of the home department, was responding to a call-attention notice by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Khurrum Sher Zaman.

The PTI lawmaker stated in his notice that a statement had been issued by the Rangers director general, wherein he had pointed out that target killers and terrorists working as ghost employees at the banks of the country.

Zaman expressed the apprehension that these terrorists were involved in money laundering through these banks and wanted to know what action had the provincial government taken in this connection.

The chief minister in his response said he was neither aware of such a statement by the Rangers chief, nor under any obligation to clarify it.

He added that affairs related to banks were looked after by the Centre while provincial government was under obligation to look into any issue related to the law and order situation.

Responding to a call-attention notice by MQM lawmaker Jamal Ahmed, local government minister Jam Khan Shoro said due financial authorities had been delegated to the newly elected mayors, deputy mayors, chairpersons, and deputy chairpersons, as they were heads of the municipal agencies across the province.

He said that these heads of municipal institutions were supposed to use fiscal powers delegated to them to solve the civic issues of the public.

Shoro said the Central district municipal corporation in Karachi had been given an annual grant of Rs 165 million. He added that the chairman of the DMC Central was supposed to use these funds to have the municipal waste disposal vehicles available with the municipal administration repaired.

Responding to call-attention notices by opposition lawmakers, sports minister Sardar Mohammad Bux Khan Mahar said that a scheme to build a sports stadium in Orangi Town 11 ½ had been reviewed and it would be built by next year.

The minister also informed the House that all sportspersons of the province who had secured gold and silver medals in the Quaid-e-Azam International Games-2016 had been handed over their prize money.

Health Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro told the House that the Sindh Medical Authority was yet to be established in the province. He added that it would be carried out very soon and it would be at the discretion of the government as to when would it appoint the chairperson of the authority.

 

Open varsity

Education Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar informed the House that so far no decision had been reached to set up an open university (for imparting higher education on the basis of the distance learning system) in the province.

Responding to the queries of lawmakers during question hour of the session, the minister said 1,311 government-run schools were present in the Sukkur district imparting primary to secondary level education. Of them, 1,266 were functioning. He added that 51 schools in the districts had been shut on a temporary basis while 34 schools were closed permanently.

He also informed the House that from 2008 to 2013, no teacher associated with government-run schools had been dismissed from service on account of being absent from duty from the administrative regions of Karachi, Hyderabad, and Mirpurkhas.

He added that a high school teacher in Sukkur region was dismissed from service on account of holding two jobs at a time while disciplinary action had been taken against 594 absent teachers of Larkana region.

He said 5,649 teachers had been recruited by provincial government from 2008 to 2013, of them 403 were high schoolteachers, 860 junior schoolteachers, and 4,386 primary schoolteachers.

He also told the House that a programme for distributing free textbooks to students from primary to secondary level classes in government-run schools in the province for the academic year 2015-16 had been launched on the directives of the chief minister.