June 17, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 12, 1429

KARACHI, June 16: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Monday presented the new budget of over Rs267 billion for the financial year 2008-09 in a largely passive session of the provincial assembly.

Presided over by Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, when the house was called to order at 6pm – one hour behind its scheduled time – from the very start till the time the session was adjourned at 7.40pm, the atmosphere appeared as lifeless and disciplined as the Duma used to be in the erstwhile Soviet Union, where proceedings of the house used to be interspersed only with the mention of the names of Communist Party leaders or the USSR’s founding fathers.

In Monday’s session, during the first budget speech of the Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition government after over a decade, the desks were thumped only when Benazir Bhutto’s name was mentioned or when Qaim Ali Shah thanked Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain and Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan for their support.

Two other moments of desk-thumping were witnessed when Sajida Khatoon of the MQM and Abid Jatoi of the National People’s Party were administered the oath.

The arrival of the chief minister could not catch the attention of the house as most of the members were trying to settle into their rearranged seats. However, when Mr Khuhro took his seat in the speaker’s chair, a lone slogan of ‘Jiye Bhutto’ rang out from the visitors’ gallery.

The same slogan echoed when the chair called it a day to reassemble on Thursday.

As the leader of the opposition was yet to be notified by the speaker, the seat reserved for leader of the opposition remained vacant.

Jam Madad Ali of the Pakistan Muslim League-F, who was elected by the joint opposition of 17 members comprising the Pakistan Muslim League-Q and NPP besides the PML-F, remained glued to his desk behind the place meant for the leader of the opposition. Neither he nor any member from either side of the house tried to raise any point of order, which had always been the practice even in the National Assembly, as the chair used to entertain one or two members to speak briefly on their points of order.

In was a rare occasion in the recent history of the assembly that no point of order was raised from any side and the budget speech was heard in a quiet and disciplined manner, with no disturbances, tearing up or throwing away the budget documents or any other theatrics.

Arbab absent

Former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who is also chief of PML-Q’s Sindh chapter, was conspicuous by his absence from the house. When the chair asked the secretary of the assembly if there was any leave application of members, the reply was in the negative.

Earlier, soon after recitation from the Holy Qur’an and Na’at, Fateha was offered for those who had passed away while the house was not in session. Some of the names were quite eminent like artist Iqbal Mehdi, PML-N leader Tariq Khan, journalist Amjad Aziz of Aaj TV, and PPP leader Munawwar Suhrawardi.

However, Jam Tamachi of the PPP reminded the chair that although it was good to offer Fateha for every Muslim, there was a previous ruling that the house ought to offer Fateha only for those who had served the province.

“If at all there is a need to offer Fateha, it should be offered for the Kalabagh Dam, which had been buried for good by the present government,” the member remarked caustically.

Before giving the rostrum to the chief minister for the presentation of the budget statement for the year 2008-09 and supplementary budget statement for 2007-08, the speaker nominated a panel of chairman: Dr Sikander Mandhro, Anwar Mehar, Ms Heer Soho and Arif Mustafa Jatoi were nominated to preside over the session in order in absence of the speaker and deputy speaker.

All galleries, including the press, governor’s, speaker’s and visitors’ galleries were overcrowded as more passes were issued than the capacity of seats.

However, the disciplined session was a big disappointment for the media, particularly for the TV cameramen, who had taken up positions to record expected unruly scenes of members tearing up the budget documents and throwing them on the floor of the house.