Motion to discuss NFC award disallowed: Sindh PA session
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, April 8: The opposition's plea for moving another adjournment motion in the Sindh Assembly to deliberate upon NFC award during the ongoing session, called to discuss the killing of MPA Abdullah Murad
, was disallowed by Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah on Thursday.
The opposition members also voiced their sentiments against the US bombings of mosques and other civilian targets in Iraq and offered fateha for a large number of people who fell victim to the raids. The speaker took serious notice of the late arrival of members which has been delaying the proceedings for more than an hour every day.
When the house was about to resume the discussion on opposition leader Nisar Khuhro's adjournment motion on Abdullah Murad's killing, he sought permission for taking up his another adjournment motion that was listed as No. 40. He cited Rule 211 of the Rules of Procedure for the grant of permission.
Mr Khuhro contended that NFC award was going to be announced soon and the opposition would like to know the provincial government's stand on the matter in the light of the recent remarks by the federal government.
He and senior PPP leader Syed Qaim Ali Shah, citing Rule 74 of the Rules of Procedure, argued that there was no bar on taking up another adjournment motion while deliberating upon the motion on the MPA's killing.
Highlighting the importance of the NFC award issue, Mr Khuhro accused the government of compromising on Sindh's affairs. Minister for Law Chaudhary Iftekhar Ahmad opposed the plea on the ground that the Rule 74 did not allow discussion on some other motion while an adjournment motion was already being discussed.
Supporting the argument, Minister for Education Irfanullah Marwat assured the house that the government would not barter away Sindh's interests. However, Syed Qaim Ali Shah insisted it was the right time to take up the motion on NFC award.
Mr Mohammad Hussain of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) stressed on disposing of the under-discussion motion first. The speaker, in his ruling on the admissibility of the motion, invited attention of the house to the Rule 74 and pointed out that the legislature had intentionally used the word 'taken up'.
He observed that this rule explicitly mentioned that "not more than one adjournment motion shall be taken up on any day" and that "the motions remaining undisposed shall be held-over for the next day."
The speaker maintained that in the present case, the house was deliberating upon the motion pertaining to Abdullah Murad's killing and until the discussion on that particular issue was completed, the motion on the NFC award would be carried over to the next date, till such time the motion on Abdullah Murad's murder was disposed of. He, therefore, ruled the motion out of order.
Later, when the house resumed the discussion on the MPA's killing, Fareeha Razzak Haroon of PPP said the law and order situation was bad. "This is evident from the fact that Muttahida activists and policemen are being killed almost every day," she remarked, and said it was failure of the government.
She regretted that despite the passage of five weeks, no progress had been made in the murder case. She demanded that the house be informed about investigation reports in this regard. She deplored that the issue was being discussed non-seriously, and pointed out that no representative of the Home or police department was present in the gallery to take notice of member's concerns.
At this point, education minister and opposition leader accused each other of disturbing the house. Mr Muhammad Hussain was presiding over the session at that time. While Mr Zahid Bhurgari was speaking, Mustafa Kamal, a minister, raised objection to some of his remarks.
At this stage, Farheen Mughal drew the chair's attention to the situation by saying that her colleague was being disturbed by the treasury benches. The chair asked the law minister to calm down the treasury benches.
As Ms Mughal kept on talking, Mr Hussain warned her. She had written to the speaker that she was being threatened with dire consequences by the activists of a party in the coalition.
Mr Hussain's remarks infuriated the opposition members and some of them stood up in protest. Nisar Khuhro accused the presiding officer of trying to gag the voice of the opposition. Mr Hussain retorted in the same tone and said that he would not allow the opposition to disturb the proceedings. As uproar, disorder and slogan chanting persisted, Mr Hussain adjourned the session until Friday morning.
