Karo-kari killings declining in Sindh, CM tells PA

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Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has claimed that incidents of honour (karo-kari) killings in the province have been on the decline owing to the efforts being made by the provincial government.He stated this on Tuesday as he responded to queries of lawmakers during the question hour related to the home department in the ongoing session of the Sindh Assembly. As the CM, who holds the additional portfolio of the home department, replied to questions, he often got himself entangled in verbal spats with opposition legislators, who asked supplementary questions on their earlier submitted formal written queries.He said change in this regard had taken place to the extent that at present there was no member of the house who was seen defending the menace of karo- kari as everyone acknowledged that it was a wrongful practice and should be prevented.However, Shah acknowledged that 91 cases of honour killings reported in the province in the previous year were too many and they should not have taken place. One vocal opposition lawmaker, Arif Mustafa Khan Jatoi, belonging to the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), asked the CM about the number of people who had been handed down punishment for their involvement in cases of karo-kari. He also wanted to know the reason behind delay in justice being dispensed in the cases of honour killing in the province.The chief minister said the police had done their work in this regard as the issue of punishment rested with the judiciary. He said that 91 cases of honour killings had been reported from 16 districts of the province, but this figure showed a decline in this trend as compared to the figures of the past.Another vocal opposition legislator, Nusrat Seher Abbasi, said that reporting of 91 cases of honour killings from all over the province had put a question mark on the performance of the Sindh government in curbing this menace. She said that one had to go through massive misery if the accusation of karo- kari had been levelled against him or her.She asked the question whether or not due lawful action had been taken against influential feudal lords of the province who had been involved in deciding cases related to karo-kari. The CM termed this question irrelevant. MPA Dr Sohrab Sarki of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party said he himself and another legislator in the house, Mir Nadir Ali Khan Magsi, were Waderas (feudal landlords), but they had never indulged in such kinds of cases. “It is our demand to hand down stern punishment in the cases of karo-kari,” he added.Magsi said not just the PPP but every concerned member of the society had to come forward to play their due part against the practice of karo-kari.The chief minister informed the house that the government had established a police complaint cell in every division of the province, and such cells would also be established at the district level later. He said female police personnel had been deputed to deal with criminal cases involving families and women. Responding to a query, the CM said police escorts were being provided to secure the movement of VIPs on the M-9 section of the motorway between Karachi and Hyderabad.Arms licencesGDA lawmaker Arif Mustafa Jatoi asked the question regarding delay in the computerisation of the arms’ licences in the province.The chief minister responded that some 55,000 cases of computerisation of arms’ licences had been pending with the National Database and Registration Authority. He said the home department had been able to computerise over 300,000 such licences in the province.At one instance, MPA Nusrat Seher Abbasi raised the question as to when an eligible provincial home minister would be available to Sindh. The CM responded that he was the in-charge home minister of the province. “They don’t see that a home minister is available in Sindh as there is no point in discussing the issue of eligibility,” he said.Fiscal shortfallGiving a policy statement on the issue of the provincial share of finances under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, the chief minister said that in the current fiscal year 2019-20 his province had been promised by the centre that it would receive Rs815 billion.He said the first quarter of the new fiscal year had just ended on September 30 and at present the shortfall of the province on account of the finances it had to receive from the federal government stood at Rs87 billion.He said his province had to receive Rs631 billion on account of funds divided under the NFC award during the past fiscal year 2018-19, but by the end of the year it had received Rs551 billion. He said that in the current year his government had received Rs31 billion as arrears of the last fiscal year, which was also Rs50 billion less than the due amount under the federal divisible pool.

from The News International - Karachi https://ift.tt/2paxJx4
The News International - Karachi