KARACHI, Dec 14: The King’s party on Saturday secured the posts of speaker and deputy speaker in the Sindh Assembly, but not without boycott of deputy speaker’s election by the People’s Party Parliamentarians and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and virtual siege of the assembly building by the law enforcement agencies for several hours after the session.

Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah was elected speaker in a one-to-one contest with Jam Saifullah Dharejo, the joint candidate of the PPP and MMA. He got 90 votes as against 73 polled by Dharejo.

Rahila Tiwana polled 86, in a ballot which was marred by a boycott by the MMA and the PPP. The other two contenders, S.A. Iqbal Qadri and Mohammad Usman Khan Haji, had earlier withdrawn their papers. The session was prorogued after the counting process was completed.

But after the session was prorogued members were not allowed to leave the assembly premises by the law enforcement agencies who were in search of a “suspect”, probably the Mohajir Qaumi Movement’s Younus Khan.

In an unprecedented move, even the speaker and deputy speaker and the ruling party’s nominee for the top slot were not allowed out, for several hours, without a thorough search being made of their vehicles.

The police had targeted the PPP legislators and did not allow their bus to leave, without a search. They misbehaved with the parliamentary leader of the PPP and his other colleagues, including the women MPAs.

Earlier, when the newly-elected speaker attempted to proceed with the election of deputy speaker, the MMA’s Nasrullah Shaji stood up and claimed that it could not be held because Abdur Rahman Rajput, who was the joint candidate of MMA and the PPP, had already been elected unopposed. He demanded of the newly-elected speaker to invite Rajput and administer to him the oath.

The MMA legislator referred to the stand of the two parties that extension in time for filing of nomination papers, after the expiry of the notified cutaway time, was illegal and the governor had no right to do so.

Speaker Muzaffar Hussain Shah reminded the member that after the ruling given by the presiding officer, Syed Jalal Mahmood Shah, earlier in the day, his contentions could not be entertained at that stage.

In his ruling, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, who was presiding over the adjourned inaugural session, referred to the point of order raised by Hameedullah advocate, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro and others, regarding extension of time, and read from a written paper: “Schedule and the time for conduct of elections of speaker and deputy speaker was fixed through the order of governor of Sindh. Hence, he is the competent authority to change or amend his order. According to his superseding order time for the submission of nomination forms for the election of speaker and deputy speaker was extended from 12 noon to 3pm so we have accepted total seven nomination papers which were submitted during stipulated period.”

But Nasrullah Shaji was insistent, saying that Jalal Mahmood Shah’s ruling was not accepted by the MMA and the PPP, and the two parties had staged a walkout on the issue. He said that if the chair would not show respect to their contention, they would walk out and protest over what he termed “illegal act” even outside the house.

PPP’s parliamentary leader, Nisar Khuhro, also supported the MMA’s contention and said that after Rajput’s “election”, fresh balloting for the same post was illegal and in violation of rules.

He also recalled the relevant rules and the subsequent order issued for the postponement and staged a walkout together with the MMA.

Nisar Ahmad Khuhro recalled that while he (Jalal) was presiding over the inaugural session on Thursday, he gave the election schedule in which the closing time for the submission of nominations was 12 noon on Friday and every member was aware of it. The secretary of the assembly at 12.15pm also made it clear that he had received only one nominations for the deputy speaker and when one of our colleagues went to submit his nomination papers at 1.15 he was declined for want of time. The secretary also told mediamen that he had received only one nomination for the deputy speaker which was also telecast by PTV.

How was it possible that the secretary was not aware of the time extension, if it was so, and why the nominations were accepted at 1.45pm from others, he queried. Besides, the notification issued in the name of governor had no mention of the time of its issuance nor was it mentioned in the notification that it took effect retrospectively.

He pointed out that the schedule of the election was announced on the floor of the house hence it had become the property of the house. He referred to the rule 7 clause (4) of Chapter iii of the Rules of Procedure which reads:

“Every nomination paper shall be delivered by the candidate or his proposer or seconder to the secretary by close of office hours on the working day preceding the day on which election of the speaker is to be held, or on the day and time specified by the person presiding.”

He said the above rule specified that the governor had no authority to extend the time and by this act he had usurped the rights of the members of this house.

Earlier, when parliamentary leaders of the parties were extending felicitations to Muzaffar Hussain Shah on his election as speaker, some members of the ruling constellation displayed their intolerance when the solitary MPA of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, Younus Khan, stood up intent on expressing his views.

No sooner had he got up from his seat than the MPAs of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, including women, stood up and objected to that, and asked the speaker to proceed with the election of deputy speaker.

But as Younus Khan stood his ground for some time, the Muttahida people kept on shouting at him.

The newly-elected speaker also apparently tried to avoid receiving the compliments from Younus Khan while Muttahida Qaumi Movement men kept on objecting, with whom his PML-F is in alliance together with the GNA. His contention was that felicitations would consume more time and he could do the same after deputy speaker’s elections along with the others.

While the speaker was trying to save a few minutes, the rumpus consumed almost an hour. Those who were opposed to Mr Khan were not paying any heed to speaker’s emphasis on maintaining the decorum.

Yunus Khan’s contention was also supported by the MMA and the PPP. But when he was not given permission by the chair to speak, he walked out after accusing the speaker of being partisan.

Nisar Khuhro, on a point of order, said that since Younus Khan was also a leader of his party, he should be allowed to speak. If he had not been denied his right, about an hour or so of the house would not have been wasted.

Later, an interesting and unbelievable development took place as a large contingent of police and intelligence operatives streamed into the assembly corridors in search of Yunus Khan. In their zest, they even stopped and searched the bus for about 15 minutes in which the PPP MPAs were returning back. Despite Nisar Khuhro’s protest, they searched the vehicle but could not find Mr Khan.

Khuhro returned to the house along with others and protested over the police behaviour. He informed the speaker that in flagrant violation of the sanctity of the assembly and its rules, the police was searching the MPAs and every nook and corner of the assembly.

He demanded punitive action against those responsible for breaching the privilege of MPAs and said he would move a privilege motion in this regard.

Speaker Muzaffar Hussain Shah took notice of the situation and promised to do the needful according to rules and the law.

Earlier, while paying compliments to Mr Shah, Jam Saifullah Dharejo said that in his victory Mir Zafarullah Jamali, Chaudhri Shujaat Hussain, Shaikh Rashid and others also had a role.

Those who complemented Mr Shah included Syed Sardar Ahmad, Ali Mohammad Mahar, Pappo Shah, Nasreen Jaleel, Nisar Khuhro and others. They emphasised on harmony, tolerance and respect for the rule of law.