ANP, MQM for deweaponising Karachi, country

The Upper House of the Parliament did not take up the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Bill 2012, six Resolutions and six Motions under Rule 218 appearing on the orders of the day. The Senate met for an hour and three minutes while Chairman Senate Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari chaired the sitting. The deputy speaker and none of the parliamentary leaders attended the sitting. Six Resolutions appearing on the agenda were also not taken up by the House. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Bill, 2012 was deferred. Two Points of Order were raised which consumed six minutes of sitting time. Information on senators' attendance was unavailable to observers and the public. Earlier, MQM demanded deweaponisation of the whole country as merely deweaponising Karachi would not serve the purpose. Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi while taking part in the debate on a resolution moved by Senator Shahi Syed "to deweaponise Karachi", he said weapons are not being manufactured in Karachi. Terrorism should be exterminated from across the country as innocent daughters of the nation are targeted. Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted modern liberal Pakistan, he said and alleged that all the relevant institutions have failed to perform their duties. Dr Farough Naseem of MQM said the influx of weapons in Karachi should be stopped. Saeed Ghani of Pakistan Peoples Party suggested the deweaponisation of cities should be initiated from Karachi. M Hamza alleged that police in Karachi has already been politicised. Three political parties including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP) and MQM should help play their role in ensuring peace in the city, he added. Senator Hasil Bizanjo said Interior Minister Rehman Malik has called him but he cannot come to attend the proceedings as he is not feeling well. On this the members said the resolution regarding law and order situation in Karachi and deweaponisation should be discussed on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the House started discussion on a resolution moved by ANP leader Shahi Syed demanding of the government to deweaponize Karachi The Senate started discussion on a resolution moved by Shahi Syed to recommend the government to take effective steps to deweaponize Karachi in view of prevailing law and order situation in the city. Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi said that the incidents of killings are taking place throughout the country in different forms due to misuse of weapons. He recommended that the whole country should be deweaponized in order to stop killings and terrorist activities. He said that there should be a complete ban on the illegal arms and not on the legal weapons. He said the police machinery should be allowed to work independently and above the political affiliation to implement the law regarding the use of illegal arms.