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Saturday, June 11, 2011



Parliamentarians angry over absence of Malik from Senate

* Rabbani tells Senate rangers has violated constitution of the country

By Ijaz Kakakhel

ISLAMABAD: The killing of an innocent youth at the hands of some officials of the Sindh Rangers in Karachi dominated the proceedings of the Upper House of Parliament on Friday, with senators expressing dissatisfaction over non-presence of Interior Minister Rehman Malik in the House to answer their queries relating to the incident.

Five officials of the Rangers had been filmed shooting 25-year-old Sarfraz Shah at point blank range at Benazir Park in Karachi on Wednesday. They had claimed the boy had tried to rob a policeman’s family.

The interior minister did not turn up during Friday’s session to brief the House on the incident.

Senator Raza Rabbani, while branding the unarmed youth’s killing as a “shameful act”, told the House that the rangers had violated Articles 9, 10-A and 14 of the constitution that guarantees fundamental rights to citizens. He rejected the statement of the interior minister that the accused (Shah) had involvement in criminal acts, saying, “No law allows killing of a culprit at the time when he is unarmed and surrounded by six security officials, who can easily arrest him.”

Rabbani demanded that the cameraman, who filmed the incident, should be given proper security as he was receiving threatening calls.

He questioned why didn’t the interior minister face parliament, and said his statement about the youngster was totally “unjustifiable”.

“Not a single court had convicted him, then why did the minister called him a criminal,” asked Rabbani.

He exhorted the government to take a timely action on the matter, saying it’s (government) duty was being performed by the apex court that took a suo motu notice of the killing on Thursday.

On a point of order, Senator Col (r) Tahir Hussain Mashhadi raised the matter of the youngster’s killing, and demanded immediate inquiry and punishment for “the culprit(s)”.

Senator Lashkar-e-Raisani told the House that the cameraman, a photographer and an anchor were receiving life threats from unknown callers. He urged the chair to summon the interior minister to update the House on the ongoing probe into the killing.

Senator Nayyar Bokhari also called for proper security for the mediamen receiving threats.

Opposition leader in the Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said no action had been taken on the Sialkot and Kharotabad incidents due to which similar incidents were being reported in other parts of the country.

Senator Ghulam Ali demanded the government to arrest and penalise the rangers director general so that such type of incidents could not be repeated. The chair, while adjourned the proceedings, directed the interior minister to brief the Senate on Monday.

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

 

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