June 23, 2006	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1427

KARACHI, June 22: Leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro on Thursday threatened to bring a no-confidence motion against Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah for ‘his biased attitude’.

He said there was strong resentment among opposition members over the speaker ruling on the ugly incident, caused by the indecent behavior of a ruling party MPA, during the Wednesday session of the assembly. “The entire opposition is enraged over the unsatisfactory action,” he said while referring to the ruling, and vowed to defy the two-day suspension of opposition MPAs. He maintained that the action against the ruling party MPA was also ‘not enough’, and said that the ruling party should seek his resignation.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Mr Khuhro also called for speaker’s resignation for “not being impartial and failing to protect sanctity of the house.” He claimed that Mr Shah’s attitude towards the opposition had remained biased and partial since 2002. “He has never provided a level-playing field to the opposition… his conduct is compelling us to bring a no-confidence motion against him.”

Under the ruling, announced by Mr Shah during the assembly proceedings on Thursday, a minority MPA belonging to the PML-Q, Ishwar Lal, has been suspended for the entire current session for sending an indecent message to a PPP MPA, Ms Shazia Marri, on a paper slip during the Wednesday session while PPP MPAs Murad Ali Shah, Nawaz Chandio, Saleem Hingoro and Munawwar Abbasi have been suspended for two days for thrashing Mr Lal in the house.

Condemning the suspension of the opposition MPAs, Mr Khuhro alleged that the speaker had not taken any notice of the injustices, committed even inside the assembly building, against opposition MPAs.

He accused the speaker of being a party to “the degradation of the assembly’s sanctity and its members’ respect. In this context, he cited the instance of the arrest of Mohajir Qaumi Movement’s solitary MPA Yunus Khan from within the assembly premises.

“The speaker did not take any notice the police action carried out within the assembly premises during which Yunus Khan had been dragged by his hair. His (Mr Shah’s) attitude is deplorable as it clearly exposed his role in the violation of the sanctity of the house,” said Mr Khuhro. He regretted that Yunus Khan’s privilege motion in this regard was still pending.

The opposition leader also made mention of the unruly behaviour of police with MPAs during the Senate elections.

In the same context, he cited the incident where the MMA’s parliamentary party leader, Maulana Umer Sadiq, had been manhandled and subjected to violence by police. He said the speaker had taken no notice of that incident and no action on the complaint of Maulana Sadiq, who had appeared before the speaker with torn clothes. Similarly, the speaker had taken no action on the opposition’s complaint regarding MPA Zahid Bhurgari’s arrest, he added.

Referring to Mr Ishwar Lal’s misconduct, Mr Khuhro claimed that instead of sitting on the seat allotted to him, the MPA had been occupying the one behind the row of PPP women members to tease them, including Ms Sassui Palejo, by sending paper drones and passing remarks.