KARACHI, May 16: The combined opposition in Sindh Assembly on Wednesday moved a substantive motion under Rule 179 of the Rules of Procedure of the assembly to requisition session of the assembly at the earliest to consider the mayhem of May 12 in Karachi for fixing the responsibility.

A substantive motion is a self-contained proposal drafted in such a way as to be capable of expressing a decision of the assembly. The motion, signed by over 44 MPAs belonging to Pakistan People’s Party and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, was submitted by Leader of Opposition Nisar Ahmad Khuhro in the assembly secretariat. Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Rafique Engineer, Sharfunnisa Leghari, Hafiz Naeem, Abdul Rehman Rajput and other MPAs were also present.

Mr Khuhro told a group of media persons present on the occasion that the speaker had to summon the assembly session under Rule 179 within seven days to consider the issue raised in the motion.

He said thousands of viewers of electronic media had seen the footage showing activists of a ruling coalition partner holding the flag of Muttahida Qaumi Movement in one hand and Kalashnikov in the other. The incident could not be ignored as the government appeared helpless for the whole day when several people, including the ambulance driver of Edhi Trust, were gunned down on streets and roads of the city.

He pointed out that the whole nation observed complete strike to protest against the mayhem in Karachi which was no less than a referendum against the government.Mr Khuhro observed that the measures being taken by the government against people indicated that the days of government were numbered.

The substantive motion reads: “The Sindh government failed to protect the lives of innocent people who were killed by the armed activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement throughout the main Sharea Faisal in presence of the unarmed police, although the government knew that the workers of various political parties would go in processions to the airport to receive the chief justice of the Supreme Court who had to arrive on May 12 at the invitation of Sindh High Court Bar, Karachi bar and Malir District bar. The assembly holds the chief minister and his adviser on home affairs responsible for the killings as well as the loss of property worth millions of rupees in Karachi.”