KARACHI, Sept 11: Leader of the opposition Nisar Ahmed Khuhro on Monday slammed the Sindh Assembly Speaker Muzaffar Hussain Shah for bulldozing the opposition’s efforts to exercise its constitutional right of vote on its motion against the deputy speaker.Addressing a news conference after the stormy session of the assembly, Mr Khuhro said the fact that some of ministers and treasury members did not turn up indicated that there was a division in the ruling coalition on the issue. He alleged that rules pertaining to secret balloting had been violated, as the roll call was not done in alphabetical order and the chair was in a hurry to wind up the session.
He also alleged that according to rules the session for taking up the vote of no-confidence against the deputy speaker should have been convened within seven days but the speaker opted for 14 days. On Monday, the speaker asked the ruling party members if they had to say anything but he did not allow the movers to speak, he alleged.
Mr Khuhro said the chair was responsible for bringing the assembly in disrepute by not following the rules, which had been one of major grievances of the opposition. He declared that opposition would again play its constitutional role against speaker and deputy speaker if violation of rules continued. He also accused the speaker of ignoring the democratic norms just to save the treasury benches from embarrassment in secret balloting. He said that 66 names of the opposition members were called within three minutes for the voting while the secretary assembly called a total of 168 names of MPAs within five minutes.
He claimed that prior to the session the a group of ruling coalition members, comprising Syed Sardar Ahmad, Irfaullah Marwat and Nadir Leghari, had tried to pressurize the opposition to withdraw the no-confidence motion against the deputy speaker. He alleged that this was done at the behest of Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah.
The leader of the opposition claimed that after his refusal to oblige the government the speaker did not follow the rules and adopted the procedure, which was never exercised in the past. He said that under the rules voting should be continued till the voters were present in the house. He said all opposition members were sitting in the house but speaker adjourned the session for one week.
Mr Khuhro said that the presence of all members of the combined opposition in the house exposed the claim of the chief minister that 18 opposition MPAs would not support the no-confidence move. He said only three PPP MPAs were absent and pointed out that Agha Tariq was hospitalized while Dr Sikandar Mondrio was in the USA as his daughter was ill and Dr Nasrullah Baloch was on official visit on the invitation of Pildat organisation.
The combined opposition in Sindh Assembly had on Aug 29 submitted a no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Raheela Tiwana for abrupt prorogation of the requisitioned session without taking up any of its agenda items, including the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti.
The opposition in its notice under Rule-14(1) had demanded that Ms Tiwana “should be immediately removed from her office since she has failed to perform he duties in an impartial manner and her gross lack of cognizance about the Rules of Procedure of the assembly makes her unfit to occupy the chair.”
Mr Khuhro also castigated the government for its failure in providing basic amenities to the people of Sindh and said that havoc played by rains in Hyderabad and other parts of Sindh was eye-opener and glaring example of the regime’s incompetence in dealing with the problems.
With regard to difficulties being faced by the people in getting CNICs, Nisar Khuhro referred to Election Commission's statement that over 20 million people had not yet been provided card by NADRA. Mr Khuhro warned that the attempt to disenfranchise the people of Sindh would be dangerous for the integrity of the nation.
