KARACHI, Sept 18: Leader of the opposition in Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro on Thursday criticized Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah for proroguing the session without finishing the agenda of the House.
At a press conference in his chamber in the presence of deputy parliamentary leader of the Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal Nasrullah Shaji, Mr Khuhro announced that the opposition would soon requisition another session of the assembly.
He said that the opposition wanted a debate on law and order situation and the affectees of recent rains, but the Speaker prorogued the House.
Justifying the protest by the members of the opposition benches against the ruling of the Speaker on the Greater Thal Canal, he said the Speaker did not favour the opposition by running the House business for 24 days as the House has to complete business for 70 days in a year. Besides, during the session, it was Speaker who consumed most of the time, he added.
Reviewing the performance of the assembly since its first session in January, Mr Khuhro said out of the four sessions held so far, three were requisitioned by the opposition, and the solitary session called by the government was the budget session which was a compulsion for adopting of the budget.
He accused the treasury benches of running away from the business on flimsy grounds.
Sometimes they wanted adjournment to have lunch or to take a nap, he said.
The House, he said, did not run completely on any day as despite presence of the opposition, the law minister was in the habit of coming late and as such the House proceedings were always delayed for over an hour.
He said in the past the House business used to run even till midnight. The opposition had submitted 32 names who wanted to participate on the law and order situation, but only seven were allowed to speak. It shows how much interest the treasury benches were attaching to law and order, he added.
Mr Khuhro also referred to the ruling of the Speaker on the motion on the Greater Thal Canal and termed it controversial.
It was a faulty ruling as the Speaker had failed to accommodate the opposition’s viewpoint, while in the ruling, arguments of the senior minister, Syed Sardar Ahmed, were enlisted.
The leader of the opposition challenged the powers of the president to set up technical committee on water issue, and said that the committee had not been notified till now as it was the prerogative of the Council of Common Interest.
He said if the Speaker claimed to have the right to prorogue the house, the opposition had the right to move another requisition.
