KARACHI: Protest by opposition mars PA proceedings
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, Aug 26: The Sindh Assembly session, which was requestioned by the opposition Peoples Party Parliamentarians to discuss Greater Thal Canal and plight of people in the wake of devastating rains in the province, was adjourned for the day abruptly on Tuesday by Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah without taking up substantial items on the day’s agenda.
The first day’s short-lived proceedings were marred by a 30-minute adjournment amid complaints by the opposition of not being allowed to express themselves, besides a boycott by journalists and protest by press photographers.
The day’s agenda included two motions by Leader of the Opposition Nisar Khuhro through which he had desired the provincial government to vigorously follow the two unanimous resolutions passed by the Sindh assembly against the Greater Thal Canal project.
The motion on the order of the day coincided with the report that Gen Pervez Musharraf had asked the ruling coalition to withdraw the two Sindh assembly resolutions on GTC, during a high-level meeting on Monday.
Through another motion, he had asked the provincial government to take more steps for the rehabilitation in the devastated areas of Sindh where 162 people had been killed, 850,000 displaced and thousands of cattle-heads eliminated and 134,000 houses destroyed.
Order of the day also included a resolution moved by the ruling coalition MPA, Bilqees Mukhtar, through which she had desired that the provincial government should approach the federal government for a grant of at least Rs30 billion to compensate for the loss of human lives, major crops, livestock and houses in the rains.
Private resolutions also pertained to the payment of compensation to the fishermen affected by the oil spillage from Tasman Spirit and provision of relief in the rain-affected areas.
But before these items could be taken up, the Speaker adjourned proceedings for the day as soon as supplementaries were raised during question hour.
The PPP Parliamentarians’ five-point agenda wanted the Sindh Assembly to discuss how the provincial government had pursued the two unanimous resolutions passed against the GTC project.
The opposition also desired a discussion on the critical situation caused by the devastating rains and, what it called, the inadequate measures taken by the provincial government.
The agenda also included discussion on the role of certain police officials in the killing of Muhammad Hussain of Badin for demanding a bag of flour in Nawabshah, and for making Taluka Nazim hostage, instead of apprehending the culprits who had burnt MPA Ghulam Qadir Chandio’s car.
The opposition further wanted a discussion on the allotment of land to the personnel of armed forces in Garhi Yasin and Thatta and on the overall law and order situation.
The atmosphere got worked up when the MMA’s Hafiz Naeem, trying to refute the contention of a minister, and PPP’s Dr Sohrab Sarki were interrupted by the speaker to cut short their points of order and were asked not make speeches.
Hafiz Naeem raised issue of the alleged indifferent attitude of Minister for Zakat Irfan Gul Magsi and said he had submitted 28 applications but even after passage of several days, no application was sanctioned.
The minister informed the House that scrutiny of the applications established that 20, out of 28 applicants, did not deserve zakat. He invited opposition benches to check the applications themselves.
He remarked that zakat would not be politicized and assured that deserving people would be given zakat. However, Hafiz Naeem accused the minister of misleading the House.
When the Speaker ordered press photographers to leave the House, opposition members opposed it. In the middle of the rumpus, The Speaker adjourned proceedings for 30 minutes.
The newsmen covering the session staged a token boycott of the proceedings in protest against the indifferent attitude of the authorities in a case of robbery committed in the house of a senior journalist, Shahid Jatoi, and his brother on Aug 7.
In the Question Hour, provincial Minister for Agriculture Arif Jatoi informed the House that the government had dispatched offer letters to 85 candidates declared successful by the Sindh Public Service Commission in 1998 for appointment as Agriculture Officers. However, 69 of them have accepted the offer.
When supplementaries were raised by Nisar Khuhro, Nuzhat Pathan and others, the Speaker adjourned the proceeding until Wednesday.
Another interesting aspect of the day was Nasreen Chandio’s arrival in a donkey cart.
