September 12, 2006	Tuesday	Sha'aban 18, 1427

KARACHI, Sept 11: The combined opposition in the Sindh Assembly on Monday moved a resolution expressing no-confidence in Deputy Speaker Rahila Tiwana but appeared content with severe criticism of her as none of its members even tried to cast a vote when the Speaker, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, announced a ballot.

No member from the treasury side either voted for or against her, rendering the resolution ‘defeated’.

During marathon session, running into more than six hours, a total of 14 opposition members were given the floor to speak on the resolution. Seven members from the treasury benches also expressed their views.

The house was told to conclude the discussion on the resolution by 4pm before it could be put to vote under Rule 14 (5). The procedure was followed accordingly, but as no one responded positively to the speaker’s call to come forward to cast the vote, he declared the no-confidence move as defeated and adjourned the session till Tuesday (Sept 19).

The speaker also announced that Tuesday would be the ‘private members’ day’ and so would be Wednesday in lieu of Sept 12, as the house would not be in session that day.

Earlier, when the discussion on the resolution was over, the speaker gave floor to Ms Tiwana who started speaking amid deafening noise of thumping of desks and slogans against her. The treasury benches matched the other side’s offensive. The commotion continued until she completed her speech in more than 40 minutes.

During the course of her speech, a few people in the house were able to get her points. Those in the press and guest galleries could not receive even her voice.

The order was restored only when the deputy speaker took her seat after concluding the speech and the opposition members, who had been standing since she had taken the floor, also sat down.

There was a repeat of the pandemonium when the chair refused to allow more opposition members to speak on the resolution.

While most of the opposition members were on their feet, there were some ugly scenes and the chair had to ask MMA leader Nasrullah Shaji, and PPP members Ghulam Qadir Chandio and Shazia Marri not to disrupt proceedings. They were asked to take their seats and keep sitting peacefully.

The opposition members who spoke on the resolution were Jam Saifullah Dharejo, Ayaz Soomro, Zahid Bhurgari , Kulsoom Nizamani, Sassui Palejo, Mohammad Rafique Engineer, Jam Mehtab Hussain, Nasreen Chandio, Munawwar Ali Abbasi, Mehreen Bhutto, Murad Ali Shah, Sharfunnisa Leghari, Saira Shaliani and Syed Asif Ali Shah.

They criticised Rahila Tiwana’s election and conduct as deputy speaker and accused her of being partial and violating the rules of procedure while chairing proceedings of the house.

In this regard, they recalled that on August 29, the requisitioned session had been prorogued by her without any item of that day’s agenda having been taken up.

Even she did not allow the opposition to take up the issues of public interest, like dubious voters’ list, killing of veteran politician Nawab Akbar Bugti and the government’s failure to provide relief to the rain-affected people of Sindh.

Mr Dharejo claimed that she had agreed to cast her vote, and also on behalf of Afshan Imran, in the Senate elections in exchange of money.

Ayaz Soomro said that one who would betray his leader could never be loyal to anyone.

Rafique Engineer asked the treasury benches to join in the opposition against those who had resorted to violating the resolutions of this august house on Thal Canal and Kalabagh dam projects, and those who could not even tolerate tributes being paid to Nawab Akbar Bugti. He remarked that such an attitude was a conspiracy to push Sindh and Balochistan far away from the federation.

Kulsoom Nizamani said that Ms Tiwana had denied opposition members their right to speak during the Aug 29 session. Mehreen Bhutto remarked that the government would send Ms Tiwana to chair a session which it did not want to run longer and discuss certain issues.

She claimed that the treasury benches were also not satisfied with her capability to run the house efficiently. In this context, she pointed out that the treasury benches would ask a member of the panel of chairmen to preside over the session in spite of Ms Tiwana’s availability.

Murad Ali Shah recalled the events right from the coming into existence of the current assembly and gave examples to prove that whenever she chaired a session, the proceedings would not last more than a few minutes only leading to a prorogation.

After the speech by Asif Ali Shah, Law Minister Iftikhar Chaudhry moved a motion under Rule 211 for fixing the time of voting, and suggested 4pm, which was carried by the house amid a rumpus triggered by the opposition benches’ reaction.

Iqbal Qadri, who was chair the proceedings at this stage, gave the floor to the Leader of the Opposition Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, but the latter abdicated his right in favour of MMA’s Nasrullah Shaji and some other members who were among the movers of the resolution but had not been able to express their views.

In the meantime, Deputy Speaker Rahila Tiwana entered the house amid thumping of desks by treasury members who welcomed her.

The chair did not allow Nasrullah Shaji to speak and gave the floor to the deputy speaker. However, as soon as she rose from her seat at 3.21pm, all opposition stood up and started raising slogans ‘go Rahila go’, and there was a complete chaos in the house. However, Ms Tiwana continued with her speech till 4pm without taking notice of the uproar.

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