The Sindh Assembly adopted a resolution on Tuesday to impose a ban on the manufacture, import and sale of toy guns for being misuses and for promoting negativity among children.
The resolution was moved by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Syed Saifudin Khalid who said, “Unfortunately, parents proudly purchase these toy guns as gifts for their children and this is what motivates them at a tender age towards violence and crime.”
During the debate on the resolution, many MPAs took it a few steps further and demanded to actually de-weaponise Sindh entirely.
Speaking on the issue, Jam Khan Shoro of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said that many plastic guns appear to be real and often criminals use them to loot people.
“A gang has recently been busted in Punjab that used to loot people showing plastic guns. No one can judge whether these guns are real or just toys,” he said.
Moreover, Syed Hafeezuddin of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) demanded to ban all types of guns in order to create a weapon-free society.
SINDH ASSEMBLY PASSES PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BILL
The Sindh Assembly on Tuesday passed Private Bill No 6/2015 The Pir Abdul Qadir Jeelani Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (amendment) Bill 2015 on Tuesday.
The bill was moved by PPPP lawmaker Pir Syed Fazal Ali Shah Jeelnai and passed unanimously.
However, another private bill, Bill No 7/ 2-15 The Metropolitan University Karachi Bill 2015 was introduced by PPPP lawmaker and its consideration was deferred on the request of MQM members.
The adjournment motion of MQM member Heer Soho about encroachments on storm water Nullahs was withdrawn by the mover after the government gave assurance that the matter would be resolved. The House also passed four private resolutions. Later, the chair adjourned the House till Wednesday, August 12, 2015 at 10am.
Resolution presented in SA against Kasur incident
A resolution was submitted to the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday condemning the massive child abuse scandal involving hundreds of victims in the province’s Kasur district over the last decade.
The resolution, submitted by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmakers Khairunisa Mughal during the assembly session chaired by Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, calls for the trial of the culprits by a military court. Investigations into the massive child sexual abuse scandal, termed the biggest in the country’s history, have revealed that around 400 videos were made of 280 minor victims of sexual abuse by the organised gang of over 25 criminals in Hussain Khanwala village of Kasur.
Several parents of victims were consistently blackmailed and coerced into paying hundreds of thousands of rupees with threats of releasing the videos in public.
The submission of the Sindh Assembly resolution today follows the passage of similar resolutions in the Senate and the National Assembly condemning the Kasur child abuse scandal and seeking the harshest possible punishments for the culprits.
On Monday, members of the lower house of the Parliament expressed solidarity with the victimised children and their parents and demanded legislation to thwart such heinous crimes from happening in the future.
