The resolution calling for steps to deweaponise the entire nation of Pakistan has been adopted by the National Assembly, despite stiff resistance from ruling coalition members and the main opposition party.
The resolution from MQM was an extended version of a similar resolution adopted by the Senate on Monday, urging the government to implement effective steps to deweaponise Karachi. The earlier resolution, tabled by ANP Senator Shahi Syed, was opposed by MQM on Monday, saying the entire country must be deweaponised. MQM was the only party that eventually voted against the ANP resolution.
“Even if Karachi is made weapon-free, the arms will once again be smuggled to the city in the next six months,” Mustafa Kamal maintained, arguing the cure for cancer is not a cosmetic surgery, but the disease will have to be uprooted from the system.
The resolution for the deweaponisation of the entire country was tabled by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Farooq Sattar and was opposed by the Awami National Party (ANP), the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N). Dr Farooq Sattar said that criminals and terrorists are a grave danger to Pakistan and thus, effective steps must be taken to deweaponise the entire country.
Supporting the resolution, Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Minister for Religious Affairs, Khursheed Shah, urged for deweaponisation of the entire country instead of just Karachi, to avert the grave danger facing the country. While, Maulana Fazlur Rehman criticised MQM’s “deceptive” resolution, saying common man needs weapons for his/her safety as the law enforcement authorities have failed in their tasks.
Earlier this month, Rehman Malik, the Interior Minister of Pakistan, presented the facts in the National Assembly that a total of 1,363 people have lost their lives in Karachi at the hands of target killers during the past years. He said 104 people were killed in 2008, 160 in 2009, 373 in 2010, 478 in 2011, and 248 so far in 2012.
However, Independent organizations like the Human Right Commission of Pakistan, claimed that numbers were much higher than what was spoken in National Assembly. The Human Right Commission claims, in the first 10 days of November, around 100 people have been killed in the city so far.
