KARACHI, Dec 14: The Sindh Assembly on Saturday witnessed an action-packed drama which included adjournment of the session amidst chaos and uproar, occupation of the speaker’s chair by an MMA man, switching off lights to get the hall vacated and putting lock on its gates.
However, the House reassembled after half-an-hour’s adjournment at 12 noon; the agitating members were allowed to speak on the points-of-order, but when the chair gave his ruling, terming the nomination papers valid which were filed for the office of deputy-speaker even after the cutout time in the schedule — 12 noon — the members belonging to the PPP and the MMA staged their first token walkout to protest against the ruling.
Before giving the ruling, the chair referred to the disorders in the House on Saturday and Thursday, and regretted over whatever had happened and said whenever there was an objection on the ruling of the chair, it should be taken up in the chamber with the chair.
Soon after the ruling, in which the chair did not quote any law and rules, all the PPP and MMA members, except Jam Saifullah Dharejo of the PPP and Sakina Bano of the MMA, left the House in protest.
The Assembly proceedings started at 11am with the recitation from the Holy Quran. Soon after, Fateha was offered for the departed souls who passed away during the intermission of the Assembly. They included Bashir Ahmad Farooqui, Nishaat Malik, Syed Kamal Mustafa, Pasha Gul, Aimal Kasi, Arshad, Mohsin, Mother of Asif Ali Zardari and other innocent people killed by terrorists and those died of hunger. These names were pointed out by Muhammad Hussain, Nasrullah Khan, Yunous Khan and Ahsanullah Hazarvi in the House.
After the Fateha, Yunous Khan was administered the oath and the chair announced nomination of four names for the panel of chairmen, who would preside over the session in the absence of the speaker and the deputy-speaker. They were Dr Hameeda Khuhro, Abdul Sattar Ansari, Dr Sohrab Khan Serki and Sadaqat Ali Jatoi.
When the next item was taken up by the chair, announcing the nominations received for the speaker and the deputy speaker’s slots, Hameedullah Advocate of the MMA drew the attention of the chair by rising from his seat to speak on a point-of-order about unopposed election of their colleague, Abdul Rehman Rajput, as deputy-speaker, but he was ignored.
The PPP legislators who had entered the House a few minutes ago had brought garlands with them. They started garlanding and greeting Rajput by thumping the desks and greeting him loudly. Rajput, who was sitting in the second row, came out to receive greetings. The PPP and MMA members demanded the chair to administer the oath to Rajput and vacate the chair for him so that he could preside over the proceedings.
The PPP and MMA members, covering Rajput, proceeded towards the chair of the speaker, who after failing to bring order adjourned the House at 11.20am till 12 noon.
A scuffle started with the Assembly secretariat staff who had blocked the entry of the MPAs belonging to the PPP and the MMA, asking Rajput to occupy the seat of the speaker. However, after a few minutes, the resistance of the staff mellowed and Rajput, in the company of MMA parliamentary secretary Maulana Umar Sadiq, succeeded to reach the chair and picked up the oath and after reading it loudly occupied the chair and raised slogan — Naghraa-i-Takbeer, Allah-o-Akbar.
When Rajput was reading the oath to himself the entire House, including members belonging to the MQM, PML (Q), PML (F) and the NA, remained seated finding themselves helpless.
After Rajput signed the oath, he was greeted by the MMA and the PPP members.
Speaking without microphone, he said that Governor Soomro was not a representative of the province and his powers had ceased the day the members were inducted, as such he had no right to order an extension in the time to accept nomination forms.
The deputy-speaker said that he would chair the proceedings till the time a speaker was elected. He then ordered the Assembly staff to prepare for proceedings and gave them 30-minute time to return. He warned them that failure to follow his orders would render them liable for disciplinary action.
He said the voting for the election of the speaker would start soon. However, at around 11.30am, the Assembly staff took away the ballot box and all lights of the hall were switched off, forcing the members to vacate the hall.
Maulana Umar Sadiq delivered the speech, recalling the events of yesterday regarding unopposed election of Abdul Rehman Rajpu. When Maula Umar Sadiq was speaking, the MQM and their allies were leaving the hall.
The adjourned session reassembled around 12.25pm with Jalal Mehmood Shah in the chair. Hameedullah Advocate, who was given the floor, said that he would like to bring on record that under Rule-7, the nomination papers could only be submitted on the day and time specified by the presiding officer. He said that according to the schedule, the time was 12 noon on Friday for filing the nominations and around 12.10pm the secretary confirmed that for the office of deputy-speaker only one form had been received, while for the speaker’s post there were three papers.
The governor had no right to extend the time after the cutout period, he added. Therefore, his point-of-order was that Abdul Rehman Rajput be declared unopposed elected and he should be administered the oath.
Others who expressed similar views on the points-of-order included Qaim Ali Shah, Sasi Palejo, Ayaz Soomro, Haji Munawwar Ali Abbasi and Ferheen Moghul.
The other side was led by Muhammad Hussain, who condemned the uproar in the House and said that Friday’s incident had no relevance with the House to be raised on a point-of-order.
Referring to the way the chair of the speaker was occupied in violation of its sanctity, he termed it uncalled for. He said as the order of the election schedule was issued by the governor, he was also competent to extend the time.
Besides, if the candidates had objection on acceptance of the nomination papers after its closing time, they should not have taken part in the scrutiny of nomination papers and should have walked out.
