Lawmakers of the Balochistan Assembly on Thursday urged Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to visit Quetta to ensure peace, help check targeted killing and control deteriorating law and order in Balochistan.
The assembly session started one hour later than schedule with Speaker Muhammad Aslam Bhootani in the chair.
Question hour was disposed off as the movers and the relevant ministers were not present in the House. Nine of the total 65 members of the Balochistan Assembly attended the assembly sitting. The House rejected the leave applications of 14 lawmakers, including provincial ministers. Two resolutions on the assembly agenda on issues including Pakistan International Airlines and Quetta Greater Water Supply Project were also disposed of, as the movers – Minister for Quetta Development Authority Haji Ismail Gujjar and Pakistan Muslim League-Q MPA Sheikh Jaffar Mandokhel – were not present in the House.
Speaking on a point of order, Senior Minister for Planning and Development and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl leader Maulana Abdul Wasay expressed his concern over targeted killing of religious scholars, women, teachers and other citizens in Balochistan. “Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani should visit Quetta to calm down sentiments of the people of Balochistan who are furious over targeted killing of female family members of MPA Mir Bakhtiar Domki, murder of JUI-N leader Maulana Abdul Ghanni Haqqani and the deteriorating law and order,” he said, adding that it was time to console people of Balochistan.
Minister for Irrigation Sardar Aslam Bizenjo asked Chief Justice of Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take suo motu notice of killing of family members of Mir Domki. He, however, said PM Gilani himself should look into the matter by visiting Quetta.
Criticising private TV channels for giving hours-long coverage to what he called the “nonsense of film actress Veena Malik”, he said they were not highlighting resolutions of the Balochistan Assembly on important issues, including law and order. He warned that he and other lawmakers would boycott Senate elections if attention was not paid to the issue of bringing peace in Balochistan. Minister for Zakaat Saleem Khosa said he endorsed Sardar Bizenjo’s decision to boycott Senate elections, adding that they would pave the way for a drive to boycott Senate elections if the Balochistan Assembly’s resolutions on law and order were not responded to. Minister for Local Government and JUI-N leader Abdul Khaliq Bashar Dost said religious scholars were being killed in targeted killings in Balochistan under a pre-planned conspiracy. He staged a walkout from the House against what he said targeted killing of leaders and workers of religious political parties. Speaker Bhootani lamented that lawmakers had adopted a non-serious attitude in connection with attending the assembly session. He asked the assembly secretary to ring bells for want of quorum, who after a few minutes, told him that the quorum could not be met as only nine lawmakers were present in the House.
