KARACHI, Dec 16: Majority of the members of the pro-regime constellation in Sindh Assembly provided encouragement to the police on Monday when they felt no urgency for deciding the fate of a privilege motion which pertained to maltreatment of over 70 MPAs of the PPP and MMA during the several hours siege of the assembly by the police on Saturday.
The privilege motion was moved by PPP’s parliamentary leader Nisar Khuhro and Syed Murad Ali Shah. PPP MPA Syed Qaim Ali Shah wanted the House to decide the matter today and not to put it in a cold storage on the pretext of referring it to the privilege committee, which has not come into being as yet.
The day’s proceedings were dominated by the condemnation of the manner in which the MQM’s lone MPA, Yunus Khan was arrested from the assembly premises.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s MPAs did not participate in the debate and only stood up to defeat the motion.
As soon as the proceedings began Nisar Khuhro stood up on a point of order and tried to invite attention of the House to the insult and maltreatment of his over 70 colleagues at the hands of the police, and the privilege motion he had filed in this regard.
Nisar Khuhro narrated the manner in which the PPP MPAs were humiliated, searched, and taken hostage for several hours as they were not allowed to leave the assembly premises, despite the speaker’s direction to the police not to behave in such a manner.
He said that the police had trampled with the sanctity of the assembly without the speaker’s permission to arrest a member of the assembly.
As Nisar Khuhro was narrating the incident to the embarrassment of the ruling constellation, Speaker Muzaffar Hussain Shah admitted the motion and declared that prima facie a case was made out.
Syed Qaim Ali Shah immediately stood up and moved a motion that Nisar Khuhro’s and Murad Ali Shah’s privilege motions, which were clubbed together, should be taken up today and the House should decide action against the concerned officials.
Speaker Muzaffar Hussain Shah reminded the members that the privilege was with him whether it should be discussed today or should be sent to a committee under Rule 64 to ascertain the alleged facts about the breach of privilege.
Qaim Ali Shah maintained that as the House was yet to have committees, in view of speaker’s ruling it would take a long time to decide the matter.
PPP MPA Marvi Mazhar informed the speaker that how she was hit by the butt of a policeman and women were subjected to humiliation during the several hours of siege of the assembly.
Dr Arbab Raheem, who had been a candidate for Sindh chief ministership as a nominee of National Alliance, also condemned the Saturday’s incident.
The speaker, who was unable to control the crowd, put Ayaz Soomro of the PPP on a notice under Rule 197 and 198 and told him that if he did not behave he would ask Mr Soomro to leave the House.
Despite criticism and persuasion of the PPP-MMA MPAs the motion could not be carried when put before the House by the speaker. After the second count, the mover could muster support of only 69 members as against 62 in the first count, while the coalition of PML-F and PML-Q, MQM, NA and GNA won the support of 88 members.
This represented the first setback to the PPP-MMA coalition in Sindh Assembly.
