KARACHI, June 25: Wednesday was yet another day of acrimonious verbal duels between the treasury and opposition benches in Sindh Assembly as the Speaker’s conduct came under scrutiny.
Demands were raised to throw the opposition out because of its alleged irresponsible behaviour. And the government was criticized over the alleged victimization of the opposition members.
After a delayed start, the treasury benches suspended the question hour, reportedly to have its way on the budget.
The uproar began when Mohammad Hussain, the provincial minister for local government, stood up on a point of order, and criticized the opposition’s behaviour during the budget session.
He repeatedly asked the Speaker, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, to play his role in keeping the opposition within “prescribed limits”. When he alleged that instead of participating in the debate on budget the opposition leadership had “used” its women members to disturb the proceedings of the House, all hell broke loose as women from both sides of the political divide started shouting simultaneously.
Abdul Quddoos of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was of the view that had the Speaker thrown out the opposition members on the first day of the current series of sessions, situation would be better on Wednesday.
Dr Saeeda Malik, the provincial minister for women’s development, deplored the conduct of women members from both the sides. She pleaded for tolerance and understanding.
However, when she said that objectionable conduct would send wrong signals abroad, especially at a time when the president was in the US, the opposition started shouting “go Musharraf go”.
When Nisar Khuhro was given the floor, he said Muhammad Hussain’s verbal attack was uncalled for because no one from the opposition had said anything. He raised the issue of suspension of MPA Farheen Mughal’s husband and termed the same political victimization.
Mrs Farheen Mughal, while deploring the government action, said the move was aimed at stifling her voice and claimed that a treasury member had warned her that by opposing the government she had “dug her own grave”.
Imtiaz Shaikh said the issue would be looked into but claimed the move did not amount to victimization.
Mr Khuhro also tried to bring a privilege motion against the provincial revenue minister for accusing the opposition of betraying the interests of Sindh and of the country.
Saifullah Dharejo criticized the treasury members for casting aspersions on Benazir Bhutto, Abdullah Shah, Naseerullah Babar and others during the budget session. He asked as to why the Muttahida members had spared those who had launched an operation against them and instead had instituted cases while in power.
Mr Hussain said he had not attacked the PPP chairperson but only her government. He claimed that all the cases against him had been framed by the PPP government, instituted even when he was not in the country. Shoaib Bokhari too refuted Mr Dharejo’s contention and said he had been acquitted in all the cases framed against him.
When the treasury sought to suspend all other business to discuss the budget, Syed Qaim Ali Shah of the PPP Parliamentarians raised an objection and asked the Speaker to be fair to both sides. He insisted that a privilege motion against the revenue minister should be taken up. He cited Rule 58, 59 and its proviso in support of his contention.
Mr Shah added that if he failed to get relief from the House, he would take the matter to a court of law. At this point, the Speaker stopped further discussions, claiming that the time for privilege motions was over.
As an uproar continued, the session was adjourned for prayers. When the proceedings resumed, there were very few opposition members in the House and the treasury took full advantage of this by pushing through its agenda. But then suddenly some opposition members came in and started raising slogans against the budget and the government. The Speaker abruptly adjourned the session for two hours.
However, when the proceedings resumed again the opposition walked out, besides staging a sit-in on the stairs of the Assembly’s main entrance. They chanted slogans against the LFO, Greater Thal Canal project, NFC and a provincial budget allegedly based on old allocations.
Mr Khuhro was critical of the Speaker’s attitude and claimed that he was partisan.
