The Sindh Assembly was told on Wednesday that the government had recovered 4,367 child labour victims, including 2,180 girls, in a year and handed them over to a non-governmental organisation for their rehabilitation and education.
This was stated by Labour Minister Amir Nawab during the question hour while replying to supplementary questions asked by Arif Mustafa Jatoi, who wanted to know the number of child labour victims recovered by the government from May 1, 2008 to April 30, 2009 and the steps taken to rehabilitate them.
Although the minister said the children, given to NGO Thardeep in phases, had been admitted to various schools, he conceded that he had received no feedback about the children from the NGO. He also failed to satisfy the MPA about the resources of the NGO. This response suddenly enlivened the otherwise dull proceedings of the house.
As the future of thousands of children was at stake, more than a score of members across the house put questions to the minister. Some of the queries, raised by Anwar Mehar, Ahmad Ali Pitafi, Ram Singh Sodho, Nusrat Sehar Abbasi, were probing. The MPAs also questioned the credibility of the NGO.
Realising the mood of the house, Speaker Nisar Khuhro came to the rescue of the minister and on a motion moved by Anwar Mehar referred the matter to the standing committee on labour with the direction that a report be submitted at the next session.
After the question hour, in which only five of the 12 questions were covered, the bills enlisted on the order of day were taken up by the chair. On a motion moved by the senior-most parliamentarian Syed Ali Nawaz Shah, the introduction of the Sindh protection and prohibition of amenity plots, bill No 7 of 2009, and the consideration of the Sugar Factories Control (Sindh amendment) Bill of 2009 were deferred by the house till Oct 16, as Law Minister Ayaz Soomro was absent.
MQM ‘forays’ into Punjab
After the agenda was completed, Syed Faisal Sabzwari of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, seeking permission from the chair on the item of any other business, informed the house that his party planned to take the message of the MQM to Punjab and was preparing to hold a convention and public meetings in different districts of that province. He alleged that his colleagues organising the moot were being harassed by the police.
He said the last time Shoaib Bokhari had brought to the knowledge of the house that their colleague, Saifyar Khan, was harassed by the Punjab police, who raided the hotel room in Lahore where he was staying.
Mr Sabzwari said although still they were awaiting a response from the provincial government concerned, Muhammad Ali Jawwad, who was in charge of the Sheikhupura MQM office, was being harassed as the police chief had issued instructions to the police to keep a strict watch on Mr Jawwad’s activities.
Condemning the attitude of the Punjab administration, he said since the MQM was the third largest political party in the country and the second one in Sindh, it had every constitutional right to carry its message to other parts of the country. He said as in the past police harassment could not deter them from taking the MQM message to the people of Punjab.
15,088 people in prisons
Prisons Minster Muzaffar Ali Shujra also made a statement under Rule 215 and informed the house that in 10 prisons of Sindh there were 15,088 prisoners, and not 18,068 as was claimed by an MPA. Of them, 12,161 were undertrial prisoners.
The concessions granted by the government had benefited 554 prisoners, and 299 of them had been released.
He said there were 228 prisoners on death row.
The minister said there were 132 women and 28 children behind bars.
He said the number of foreign prisoners was 756, including 546 Indian fishermen.
Mr Shujra said 692 prisoners were suffering from Hepatitis B, 591 from Hepatitis C and 22 women prisoners were afflicted by HIV positive. He added that 176 of the prisoners suffering from Hepatitis C had been released.
Earlier, Nusrat Abbasi raised the issue of harassment of the residents of Dhani Bakhsh Goth in Karachi who, she said, were being threatened by the land mafia to vacate the land or face dire consequences. She said the village was 40 years old where water and electricity supplies proved that it was not a case of illegal occupation.
Sherjeel Memon said that in Tharparker 40 per cent students were suffering from Hepatitis C which made them unfit for employment during interviews. He asked the health minister to send special teams for their treatment.
Dr Sikander Mandhro drew the attention of the house towards the report of death of 50 ibex, a protected species, in the Khirthar National Park. He demanded that a special team be sent there to find out the causes of the deaths, and necessary steps be taken to prevent more fatalities.
The house also formed a finance committee comprising Dr Sikander Mandhro, Haji Munawwar Ali Abbasi, Muhammad Muzammil Qureshi, Nawab Taimoor Talpur, Mir Muhammad Hussain Talpur, Syeda Rukhsana Shah and Nusrat Sehar Abbasi.
After the formation of the committee, the house was adjourned to meet again on Thursday at 2.30pm.
