KARACHI, Sept 25: The requisitioned session of the Sindh Assembly was prorogued on Monday without any item of the agenda having been taken up in 15 days.
Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah prorogued the session at 2:15pm when the treasury and opposition benches failed to evolve a consensus on any issue on the agenda to be taken up, although they had reached an out of the house understanding on certain resolutions to be discussed and adopted.
The opposition had requisitioned the session to discuss JWP leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti’s killing during a military operation in Balochistan, imposition of ban on teachers’ associations in Sindh, anomalies in the preparations of new voters list, the post-monsoon situation, etc.
The Monday proceedings, which began at 10:50am remained confined to questions hour as none of the 27 points on the order of the day could be taken up with a consensus of the opposition and treasury benches.
A discussion on the admissibility of a privilege motion of Ms Sharfunnisa Leghari of PPP also remained inconclusive during the time allotted to her. The chair, citing Rule 58-A, put off the discussion to the next session when Law Minister Iftikhar Chaudhry, opposing the motion, argued that denying her access to polling stations did not cause a breach of her privilege as it was not an MPA’s duty to visit such a place.
At the outset, after recitation from the Holy Quran and Naat, fateha was offered for those who passed away in the last two days of the weekend recess. The members also prayed for the life and health of Gen Pervez Musharraf amid the rumours on Sunday following a countrywide electricity breakdown that had also overcast political scene.
After the questions hour, members from opposition and treasury benches raised various issues through points of order. Hameedullah Khan of MMA drew the attention of the house to the unbearable hike in the prices of essential commodities with the advent of Ramazan.
He also drew the chair’s attention to the frequent and prolonged power breakdown persisting for weeks in the province, saying that this had added to the miseries of citizens.
Nasrullah Shaji of MMA raised the issue of exhausting traffic jams running into hours on all major arteries of Karachi, and said this was only an addition trouble being caused to the fasting faithful. He also wanted the house to come out with a resolution against extortion in the name of zakat by certain political elements.
Law Minister Iftikhar Ahmad Chaudhry informed the house that that the Sindh High Court had granted magisterial powers to certain revenue officials who were now taking suitable action against profiteers.
Rafique Engineer of PPP pointed out that unscrupulous traders were using harmful oil to prepare potato chips which could become a public health problem and, as such, must be checked.
Abdul Rehman Rajput of MMA said that employees of the Sindh Assembly Secretariat were not paid honorarium in violation of the announcement made by the chief minister in this regard.
Syed Qaim Ali Shah of PPP said that for the jobs of qasid and naib qasid in the departments of education and health, there were hundreds of graduate and post-graduate youths waiting for a response to their applications.
Sassui Palejo demanded that entire Sindh be declared ‘calamity-hit’ area as the recent rains had cause widespread damage and devastated houses of most citizens.
Leader of the opposition Nisar Ahmed Khuhro drew the attention of the house to the retrenching of 300 employees of non-farm water management department without any reason by adviser to the chief minister on agriculture. He pointed out that supply of irrigation water to the lands in Sobho Dero had been stopped and the affected farmers had been observing a hunger strike outside the Karachi Press Club.
Makhdoom Jameeluz Zaman and Ghulam Qadir Chandio of PPP and Nasrullah Shaji referred to the anomalies in the preparation of new voters list. Shamim Ara of PPP said that in certain localities of Mirpurkhas, sewage-mixed water was being supplied to households.
Panjomal Bheel of MQM demanded remission in loans taken by farmers as was done in the case of landowners of the areas affected by rains and flooding.
After the Zuhr break, the house reassembled at 1:45 pm to resume the proceedings but much of the time was consumed in evolving a consensus on matters to be discussed. Some understanding outside the house was reached on taking up the main resolutions that pertained to the devastation by recent rains and relief to the affected people. However, the opposition and treasury failed to show flexibility to each other prompting the chair to prorogue the session sine die.
KARACHI, Sept 25: The requisitioned session of the Sindh Assembly was prorogued on Monday without any item of the agenda having been taken up in 15 days.
