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ISLAMABAD, March 10: Opposition members in the National Assembly on Wednesday called for resignation by the Sindh government for its alleged failure to maintain law and order and staged a protest walkout over the murder of a Sindh MPA in Karachi.
Several members of the PPP, mostly from Sindh, blasted the provincial government for what they called its inaction to protect the lives and properties of citizens and arrest the killers of PPP MPA Abdullah Murad Baloch as they spoke on an adjournment motion which was later dismissed by Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain.
Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat tried to reassure the lower house that the government had moved fast and properly to investigate Mr Baloch's killing but failed to satisfy critics, prompting a brief token walkout participated by all opposition parties.
RESIGNATION ACCEPTED: In the early stages of the sitting, marked by repeated arguments between the chair and opposition members wishing to speak, the speaker announced his acceptance of the resignation submitted by PPP MNA from Rahim Yar Khan Chaudhry Zafar Iqbal Waraich.
Mr Waraich's "seat has become vacant with effect from March 9," the speaker said about the PPP MNA, who said he resigned because of policy differences with the party. However, the party said the MNA was a victim of government pressures or horse-trading.
But the resignation has set off speculations about whether Mr Waraich had vacated his seat for someone from the ruling party or he would himself seek to regain it as a ruling party or independent candidate in a by-election the Election Commission must hold within 45 days.
PPP Secretary-General Raja Pervez Ashraf said nobody's life and property was safe in Sindh as he moved an adjournment motion to initiate half an hour's debate on Mr Baloch's murder, during which PPP members accused the police of refusing to register an FIR from the MPA's family and instead insisting on recording a version of their own choice as a quid pro quo for pursuing the case.
Others who denounced the Sindh government included PPP members Nawab Yousuf Talpur, Qurban Ali Shah, Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada, Sher Mohammad Baloch and Khurshid Shah from Sindh, Chaudhry Qamar Zaman Kaira and Naheed Khan from Punjab, and MMA member Mohammad Laeeq Khan from Sindh.
The interior minister said an FIR had been registered as he recounted the steps taken by the provincial government, including the ordering of an inquiry by a high court judge, appointment of three police investigation teams each headed by a deputy inspector-general, and announcement of a bounty of one million rupees for anybody informing police about murderers.
But the minister did not explain whether the FIR contained the version of Mr Baloch's family about suspected killers or only of police. PML-N member Abid Sher Ali, who appeared in the house for the first time after his detention in November for organizing a protest rally in his hometown of Faisalabad to protest against the arrest of his party's acting president Javed Hashmi, wanted to speak on his privilege motion relating to what he called "inhuman treatment" given to him and his family by police.
The speaker cut him short, asking him to wait for his privilege motion to come up in the house, but only to invite more protests from the PML-N member and charge of a "dictatorial attitude".
ON-TIME SITTINGS: At the start of the sitting, the speaker promised to begin proceedings on time from Thursday - when the assembly will start a debate on President Pervez Musharraf's address to a joint sitting of parliament on Jan 17.
