KARACHI, March 9: The Sindh Assembly on Friday unanimously condemned the graffiti that appeared overnight in the city demanding a separate province for the Mohajirs and called upon the government to take action against those behind this move.

PML-Functional lawmaker Nusrat Seher Abbasi tabled a resolution in the house against the wall-chalking and pasting of posters for a Mohajir province and over a dozen other lawmakers, some also belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party, signed it.

Lawmakers belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement were not consulted before the tabling of the resolution in the house.

However, the resolution was unanimously carried after two brief speeches by MQM’s Aamir Moin Pirzada and PPP parliamentary party leader Pir Mazharul Haq.

“This assembly strongly condemns the act of wall-chalking/pasting of posters on walls in Karachi regarding establishment of a Mohajir province by breaking Sindh,” the resolution reads, demanding that the provincial government expose people behind such a move and take action against them.

In his speech, Mr Pirzada said that all permanent residents of Sindh were not only opposed to such a slogan but also condemned it.

He, however, recalled having heard about slogans for “Sindhu Desh” since his childhood. He added that a demand for a Mohajir province had been made for the past 15-20 years. But all those behind the talk of division were always rejected in elections by the people, who gave the mandate to the PPP and MQM, he added.

He said if the resolution had been presented to the lawmakers belonging to the MQM before being tabled in the house, his colleagues would have signed it.

He said that under a policy of reconciliation pursued by President Asif Ali Zardari and MQM chief Altaf Hussain, there was complete harmony among people belonging to different ethnic backgrounds.

He said that the MQM condemned people who were talking about a separate province in Sindh.

However, he suggested that leaders of the coalition parties find out the reasons and people behind such slogans and hold talks with them to sort out the issue once and for all.

Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq opposed the resolution, saying the wall-chalking of such slogans had never received acceptance from the people and if resolutions were tabled in response to such moves, they would get recognition.

He said a congenial atmosphere in the province was not being tolerated by anti-state elements who did not like the atmosphere of harmony in the province.

They wanted to create disunity among people by fomenting ethnic unrest and raising issues on which people could be divided, he said.

Earlier, after the question hour, Sindh Culture Minister Sassui Palejo raised the issue of wall-chalking for a Mohajir province and said that for the past three or four days, she had been receiving email and text messages drawing her attention towards unrest among people over the issue.

She condemned the wall-chalking about a new province and said that if any party was involved or behind it, the government should expose it.

The other business carried out in the house included the adoption of another resolution moved by Dr Ahmad Ali Shah and supported by Information Minister Shazia Marri. The resolution, when put to a vote, was passed unanimously after a brief discussion.

The resolution reads: “This assembly recognizes access to good health as the inalienable right of every individual as enshrined in Article 38 of the Constitution of Pakistan; acknowledges that a healthy population is fundamental to the prosperity, security and stability of a nation and the cornerstone of economic growth and social development and recommends to the government to ensure reduction of health inequalities by tackling its root causes which include poverty, uncontrolled population growth, pollution, climate change, unemployment, malnutrition, and illiteracy, forming a vicious circle reinforcing one another”.

Before Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, who called the house in order at 11am, adjourned the assembly at 1.10pm to meet on Monday, Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Ghulam Quadir Chandio and many members again drew the attention of the house towards detection of anomalies in the primary electoral rolls and the need to extend time for correction.

The finance minister pointed out that he had found names of some 7,000 voters from his constituency of Sehwan taluka in the lists of Kachchi and Shoran in Balochistan. This could not be due to any mistake but only by design, he said, adding that upon contact with the National Database Registration Authority he was shown forms provided by the election commission in which their addresses were shown in the Balochistan area.

He suggested that officials of Nadra and the election commission be invited for a briefing on anomalies in the voters’ lists to lawmakers at the earliest.

Pir Mazhar said that it was a serious issue that voters from Dadu district were shown in Balochistan.

Speaker Khuhro said that a briefing session for lawmakers was being fixed for Monday by officials from Nadra and the election commission.