Terming the memo as concoction by a US citizen (Mansoor Ijaz), Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan on Friday asked the media not to give importance to him. Talking to reporters after Sindh Assembly session, the minister said the memo issue was a concoction by a US citizen against the army and politicians, therefore, media should not give importance to him.
He ruled out any pressure on him from any of the collation partners, saying the Mohajir Qoumi Movement (MQM-H) chief Afaq Ahmad was under house arrest in the light of intelligence agencies' reports. He said the court had given a ruling on Afaq case on Friday and Sindh Home Department was going to hold meeting to review the decision to chalk out its plan in this connection.
He said his government would always respect court's verdicts regarding the MQM-H chief. Earlier during the session, while responding a query of MQM lawmaker Faisal Sabzwari, Wasan said the government had issued instructions to concerned authorities to identify the unregistered and illegal religious schools in the province so that action could be taken again the seminaries like the one found this week in Sohrab Goth.
He said that some 75 shackled students had been recovered from a religious school of which 68 had already been handed over to their parents and seven of them were kept in Edhi's Centre.
However, he pointed out that administrator of the seminary Mufti Dawood had fled and still at large. He said police nabbed Qari Usman from the school who belonged to Bagram, Afghanistan. He informed the house that the seminary had been sealed. Wasan said his department had also held a meeting with religious scholars to chalk out plan to check the unregistered religious schools in the province. On point of order, Sabzwari lamented the chaining of kids, saying such steps could be taken at rehabilitation centres and not at a religious school.
Senior Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazhar declared such places as 'slaughterhouses,' saying that they should not be called religious schools. He also regretted the comments of different religious scholars against the government's action of sealing the school. A minority MPA of PPP Saleem Khursheed Khokhar recorded his protest against the cross sign - a religious mark of Christians, on shoes and demanded of the government to punish the responsible.
His views were supported by Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro and Aga Siraj Khan Durrani and they both urged the government to take action against the perpetrators. Speaker Nisar Khohro asked Khokhar to table a resolution in the house on Monday so that Sindh Assembly could demand Punjab government to take action against such elements. The assembly also prayed for full recovery of President Asif Ali Zardari, who is currently under treatment in Dubai. Besides, Sindh Irrigation (Amendment) Ordinance 2011 was also tabled in the house. Speaker adjourned the session till Monday.