KARACHI: Rejection of opposition move stirs chaos in PA
By Habib Khan Ghori
KARACHI, March 16: The Sindh Assembly proceedings were marred by rumpus and uproar on Wednesday when Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah refused to exercise his discretionary powers under Rule-211 to allow Makhdoom Jameeluz Zaman of PPP to move his resolution out of turn by suspending relevant rules and put the move to vote. After the move was opposed by Law Minister Iftikhar Chaudhry, the speaker sought the opinion of the House which ensued chaos and rumpus. As the move was rejected by 57 votes against 37 in favour, the Speaker called it a day at 3pm to meet on Thursday at 10am.
From the very beginning, the opposition appeared not in a good frame of mind due to commencement of the session over one-and-half hours late at 11.30am. They were awaiting members of ruling coalition to come in the House and occupy treasury benches to take up order of the day which included privilege motion of Syed Qaim Ali Shah, general discussion on law and order situation in the province on motions moved by many members from both sides and to continue discussion on admissibility of adjournment motion about Dr Shazia Khalid case whose notice was given by Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, Humera Alwani, Muhammad Rafique Engineer and Dr Mehreen Razzak Bhutto.
Soon after recitation, Mr Saifullah Dharejo of PPP on a point of order drew attention of the speaker about a statement of Pir Pagara regarding possibility of Governor’s Rule in Sindh after the meeting of chief minister with Pir Pagara in Kingri House.
Expressing apprehension of a conspiracy against the elected House, he said there was no need of experiencing governor’s rule any more nor should democratic system be derailed. Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who was present in the House, ruled out any possibility of governor’s rule in Sindh saying that his government was stable. He said Pir Pagara is his elder and his meeting was no more than a courtesy call. Whatever he said was based on his own views and nobody could stop anyone to have his own views, he added.
When the House resumed business after Zohr prayers at 2.30pm, Makhdoom Jameeluz Zaman rising from his seat requested the chair to relax Rule 32, 35(1) and 103 (1) of the Rules Of Procedure under Rule-211 and allow him to move his resolution. The resolution reads: This assembly resolves and recommends to the Sindh government to approach the federal government for not issuing the Computerized National Identity Cards to the immigrants belonging to Bangladesh and other countries.
The speaker pointed out that he would not exercise his discretionary powers under the Rule-211 to allow the resolution. As he never relaxed the rules for allowing anyone to move a resolution out of turn except by the House.
Before putting it to vote, he asked the law minister to comment. The law minister opposed relaxation in rules under Rule-211 and said if the resolution was so important it should have been listed on Tuesday’s order of the day.
After hearing the mover and the law minister, the chair put the motion to the House which was rejected by 57 votes against 35. MMA members on the opposition benches, and Sarfraz Shah Shirazi and Ahsan Ali Jatoi from treasury benches remained absent from voting. Soon there was commotion in the house as many members from both the sides stood up and started making statements. The opposition side was heard raising slogan “shame, shame”. The speaker tried to stop members from creating chaos but in vain. He adjourned the session for Thursday.
Earlier, the House had welcomed Qari Hasham Bin Abdul Basit who had come from Egypt. Through a joint motion, he was paid tributes on his visit to Sindh and to attend the assembly session from the governor’s gallery.
