KARACHI, May 29: The Sindh Assembly session, which was convened on the requisition of the joint opposition on Tuesday, was prorogued barely 25 minutes after it began as acrimony between the treasury and opposition benches caused it to spiral out of the acting speaker’s control.
Caught in the crossfire of accusations and counter-accusations, Deputy Speaker Rahila Tiwana, who was presiding over the session in the absence of the speaker, decided to wrap up the show as multiple incidents snowballed into an uncontrollable fracas.
The House was called to order one hour behind schedule at 10.30am. Soon after the recitation from the Holy Quran and a Na’at, the chair took notice of some placards carried by members of the opposition inscribed with anti-government slogans. The chair refused to proceed as per agenda unless the placards were removed.
At first, the opposition showed defiance to the ruling but later put away the placards. This was followed by nominations of the panel of chairman. They members nominated on Tuesday were S. Iqbal Qadri, Rajveer Singh, Haji Usman Malkani and Dr Sharifunnisa Laghari.
Provincial minister Mohammad Hussain of the MQM, who was given the floor to mention the names of the May 12 victims for offering Fateha, started a tirade against the PPP and Jamaat-i-Islami, calling them ghundas and terrorists and holding the parties responsible for the May 12 violence.
This elicited a severe reaction from the opposition benches and Mr Hussain drew the chair’s attention towards uncharitable comments made by a member of the opposition.
These remarks sparked a disturbance, which was soon quelled by the chair, as she gave the floor to Nisar Khuhro. The leader of the opposition suggested that the chair ask the minister to leave the House for using uncultured remarks.
On this, Mohammad Hussain leapt out of his chair and refused to concede passing any un-parliamentary remarks, and demanded that Khuhro offer an apology to the House for using un-parliamentary language.
Following a further volley of allegations from both sides, Mohammad Hussain drew the attention of the chair towards about remarks passed against her by PPP member Rafique Engineer and demanded that the remarks be withdrawn and an apology be offered to the House.
Though Nisar Khuhro denied any such remarks were made, the chair ruled that until the remarks were withdrawn, she would not proceed further.
As the rumpus grew out of control, the session was prorogued.
As the deputy speaker was leaving around 10.55am after the ruling of prorogation, which remained inaudible due to the commotion, the entire opposition started chanting slogans against the MQM and what they described as the politics of violence.
The treasury members left without reacting to the slogans, even though some women MPAs from the treasury benches were seen countering the slogans, which remained inaudible.
After the treasury’s exit Nisar Khuhro asked Dr Sharifunnisa Laghari, who had been nominated earlier, to preside over the session. For this purpose a chair was placed in front of the speaker’s rostrum. Khuhro followed with a brief speech recalling the May 12 bloodshed, and read out the names of those who passed away.
Nasrullah Shaji, Rafique Engineer and others also mentioned the names for offering Fateha, while Farheen Mughal briefly recalled her ordeal of May 12.
At around 11.20am, all the light bulbs were turned off, which compelled the opposition members to leave the House.
KARACHI, May 29: The Sindh Assembly session, which was convened on the requisition of the joint opposition on Tuesday, was prorogued barely 25 minutes after it began as acrimony between the treasury and opposition benches caused it to spiral out of the acting speaker’s control.
