KARACHI: Sindh Assembly session likely to be stormy
By Shamim-ur-Rahman
KARACHI, Jan 25: Despite attempts to defuse the tense situation in the province, the first session of the Sindh Assembly, beginning on Monday, is likely to see some fireworks in the backdrop of the recent by-election skirmishes between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal in the city and the last-minute withdrawal by the PPP from the contest in protest against alleged government interference.
The government’s decision to sit pretty on the opposition’s application for requisitioning a session to discuss issues confronting the people of Sindh will also add fuel to the fire.
The infighting within the ruling coalition, particularly between the National Alliance and the PML (Q), will also cast its shadow over the proceedings.
According to Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, two bills will be introduced in the session, one pertaining to banning the collection of donations by force and the other concerning an amendment to the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001, forbidding a vote of no-confidence against the Nazims till June 30.
An adjournment motion to discuss the law and order situation in the province is also part of the agenda.
Confusion may be witnessed right from the word go as the government, instead of summoning a requisitioned session, for which a request has already been moved by the opposition, has itself called the session and has fixed its own agenda. Law and order is everybody’s concern, but analysts believe the MQM- dominated government will want to tackle the issue from its own perspective to blunt the onslaught from the opposition.
Technically, the governor can summon a session even when a requisition has been submitted. But in the light of the tradition set by the Senate chairman in a similar situation, the government should have convened a session as requested, according to observers.
The opposition, particularly the People’s Party Parliamentarians, had requisitioned a session to discuss the delay in the National Finance Commission award, growing unemployment, shelving of the Thal canal project, law and order, problems faced by sugarcane growers, and alleged interference by the provincial government in the by-elections.
The parliamentary party leader of the PPP in the Sindh Assembly, Nisar Khuhro, said that by fixing the agenda for a regular session, the “government has tried to run away from focusing on issues confronting the people of Sindh.”
He, however, added that his party had articulated the issues in the form of an adjournment motion.
So if the government did not prorogue the session after completion of the business on Monday, the opposition will force a debate on matters which it believes are of vital public concern.
Mr Khuhro said that the delay in the NFC award could cost a loss of Rs96 billion to Sindh, thereby resulting in further unemployment and hardship to the people.
He pointed out that delay in the NFC award was being sought to reconstitute the National Finance Commission. Since 1997, Sindh had already lost Rs80 billion, he said, adding that further delay would result in the loss of another Rs16 billion, bringing the total loss, since 1997, to Rs96 billion.
The MMA had also wanted to discuss the law and order situation in the context of the by-elections and the alleged stuffing of ballot boxes by MQM activists and use of strong-arm tactics by them.
Other matters likely to be discussed may include the order passed by a minister of the MQM-dominated provincial government through which the local government was asked to seek the provincial government’s permission before embarking on certain expenses, and the order of the City District Government Karachi banning the collection of hides of sacrificial animals on the occasion of Eidul Azha.
