KARACHI, July 26: Amid opposition's rumpus, a new member of the Sindh Assembly was administered oath on Monday by Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, who prorogued the session shortly afterwards.

The new member, Mr Yusuf Munir Shaikh of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, was declared elected in the by-polls for PS-127 which the opposition regards as 'controversial and heavily manipulated'.

Mr Shaikh now represents the constituency which had fallen vacant due to the assassination of Mr Abdullah Murad of the Pakistan People's Party. As soon as the speaker dispensed with the points of orders, he called for administering the oath to Mr Shaikh.

This enraged the opposition members who started shouting and raising slogans. The rumpus made it impossible to hear even wordings of the oath. The opposition members kept on chanting, "farce and manipulated elections not acceptable, and staged a walkout.

Amid the rumpus, the speaker hurriedly took up the leave applications and then read out the assent of the governor to five bills. They were: Sindh Fisheries (Amendment) Bill No. 9 of 2003, Sindh Race Course Licensing (Amendment) Bill No. 11 of 2003, Sindh Tax Evasion Bill No. 3 of 2004, The Dow University of Health Sciences Bill of 2004 and Sindh Finance Bill No. 6 of 2004.

In the meantime, the opposition leader in the house, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, along with some other members, flocked back and objected to the Speaker's decision to bypass question hour, which was the fourth item on the day's agenda.

However, the speaker appeared not ready to entertain their contention. As the opposition kept on shouting, the Speaker hastily read out the governor's order to prorogue the session.

The opposition had, on Sunday, alleged that the one-day session had been summoned only to get the new MQM member sworn-in before the rival candidate could move the Supreme Court against the Sindh High Court verdict under which Mr Shaikh had been declared elected through a notification of the election commission.

At the very outset, Mr Khuhro stood up on a point of order to challenge the legality of summoning the session in such a haste. He claimed that though the governor had the discretionary powers to summon the session, the members had not been 'notified' by the assembly secretary in the manner as spelt out in the Rules of Procedure.

Maintaining that mere an announcement on TV was not the right way, he said that owing to this 'mala fide haste' many members could not turn up on right time to attend the session.

Mr Khuhro said that DCOs and police officials had been directed to intimate the MPAs of their respective areas that the session had been summoned. "Heaven would not fall if the speaker adjourned the session for a day to enable other members to attend it," he remarked.

Mr Khuhro quoted Rule-3 of the Rules of Procedure and said that the way the session was summoned was 'illegal' and 'uncalled for'. Jam Saifullah Dharejo supported Mr Khuhro, and alleged that the session had been summoned just to please the major stakeholder in the government.

He accused the speaker of being partisan in this case because when the opposition had requisitioned a session following the killing of Mr Abdullah Murad, the speaker had not shown such an urgency.

Minister for Law Chaudhry Iftekhar accused the opposition of pressuring the government, and claimed that the session was lawfully summoned by the governor. He insisted that notices had been given through television, DCOs and newspapers. If the opposition members were not properly informed as they claimed, how did so many of them turn up in the house? he argued.

At this point, an opposition member, Ramesh Kumar, tried to draw the attention of the house to the government's failure in recovering one, Santosh Kumar of Larkana, who had been kidnapped 22 days back.

The member also asked the government what action had it taken in the case of Rajesh Kumar and Om Parkash. He accused the government of trying to wriggle out of the situation by just making statements.

Rafiq Engineer of the PPP supported him and criticized the government for not apprehending Mr Murad's killers. However, when he declared election of Yusuf Munir Shaikh illegal, the speaker observed that matters decided by courts could only be agitated through appeals.

Mr Khuhro again took up the matter of summoning the session. He cited Rule 3(1) and (2) which he connected with Rule 77. The speaker, however, said: "You cannot challenge the summoning of the session as illegal. You can do that in the court." In this regard, the speaker also cited certain provisions of Rule 212.

Mr Ali Nawaz Shah also supported the opposition leader's contention. Syed Murad Ali Shah argued that as per the Rules of Procedure, every member had to be issued a notice by the assembly secretary regarding holding of assembly session. He pointed out that there was no provision in the rules that a member could be intimated through TV or DCO.

He demanded that the session be adjourned for the day so that other members could also attend it. The law minister pointed out that in Rule 3, there was no mention of the word 'notice'. It required 'intimation' through any mode, he added.

At this point, the speaker obliged Minister Imtiaz Shaikh who asked for administering oath to the new member. Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah ruled all the points of orders raised by opposition members 'out of order' and asked Mr Shaikh to take the oath. As the speaker rejected the points of order, there was a complete disorder and an uproar from the opposition benches. The speaker prorogued the session.