KARACHI, Nov 7: The treasury benches on Tuesday defeated a resolution moved by opposition members calling for effective measures to check and control the spread of dengue virus which has claimed more than 30 lives in the province since June this year.
The resolution asked the government that these measures should be ensured at the union council level to combat the dengue epidemic and the heirs of dengue patients should be compensated.
The resolution was put to vote by Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah when Law Minister Iftikhar Ahmad Chaudhry opposed it saying that the government was already seized with the situation and had taken all possible measures within the available resources to meet the challenge through preventive measures and facilitating its victims.
Before the resolution was put to vote its mover Shamma Mithani, Dr Mehreen Bhutto, Rafique Engineer of the PPP, Nasrullah Shaji, Hameedullah Khan, and Yunus Barai of the MMA delivered brief speeches in support of the resolution while Women Development Minister Dr Saeeda Malik gave a statement under the Rule 215 on behalf of the Sindh government and Shakir Ali of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement wind up the discussion.
Amidst cry of shame, shame from the opposition, the chair adjourned the session at 3.50pm to re-assemble again at 10am on Wednesday.
Besides the resolution, the business which was transacted during the day included privilege motion of Hafiz Muhammad Naeem of the MMA regarding breach of his privilege by PIA employees Muhammad Yunus, Muhammad Tahir and Shujauddin whose conduct not only deprived him from his flight of Oct 23 from Jeddah to Karachi but also caused loss of articles to the tune of 10,000 Saudi Riyals.
Before taking up the adjournment motion listed on the order of the day, the speaker read out his order reserved on Monday after discussion on the admissibility of the privilege motion of Ms Sharfunnias Leghari against misbehaviour of a DSP on Sept 16 during the course of by-election of PS-75 Khairpur Nathan Shah, Dadu. According to the order, without going into the merits of the case, the privilege motion was referred to the committee for examining whether breach of privilege of the MPA was committed.
The adjournment motion moved by Nisar Khuhro about reported sale of 12,000 acres coastal land to a UAE firm; contradictory statements of the chief minister on the issue and controversy over its ownership was not opposed by the law minister. The speaker fixed the matter for discussion for two hours as last item on Friday.
On Tuesday, which was private members day, the house was called to order at 11.20am. Soon after recitation from Holy Quran and Naat, the speaker took notice of presence of Rafique Engineer in the house who was barred from attending the session. He said no proceedings could take place until Rafique Engineer was removed from the house by opposition.
Rafique Engineer said that he had much regards for the chair of the speaker but he considered his motion was according to the Rule-211. He said: “However, if the house was hurt from my attitude though I did not commit any such act, I offer regrets.”
The speaker said he would not like to make it a matter of his ego and turned his yesterday’s order into a warning to the MPA.
After this ruling, the proceedings started according to the order of the day. The question hour was taken up at 11.58am while the house was adjourned at 12.40pm for Zuhr break.
