KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Monday witnessed rumpus when the opposition alleged that a Pakistan Peoples Party minister used foul language against a woman lawmaker — a claim denied by the minister who argued that he did not use any unparliamentary word which could be verified from the assembly record.

The rumpus compelled Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani to adjourn the sitting till Tuesday.

Earlier, the business was first interrupted over some remarks of Deputy Speaker Syeda Shehla Raza towards minority MPA Diwan Chand Chawla of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. It happened the second time when the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s deputy parliamentary party leader Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hasan drew the attention of the speaker towards ‘inappropriate remarks’ by provincial minister Jam Mehtab Dahar about MQM lawmaker Sumeta Afzal during the question-hour session.

But the minister contested it, explaining that it could be verified from the assembly record.

However, the minister’s statement did not satisfy the woman lawmaker and her colleagues who stood up and started speaking together. The chair in an attempt to restore discipline to the house threatened to adjourn the session. He tried to calm down both sides and said that any unparliamentary remarks from the proceedings stood expunged.

MQM lawmakers later said that the remarks were not recorded and some MPAs overheard them. They demanded an apology from the minister. There was complete chaos in the house and the speaker had no option but to call it a day at 5.50pm to meet on Tuesday at 10am.

Earlier, the deputy speaker turned off the mike of MQM minority MPA Chawla when he was highlighting the cases of kidnapping and forced conversation of minority community members and passed some remarks (Aap ne apna shauq poora kerlia) that angered him and other members of his party.

MQM lawmakers led by Khalid Ahmad stood from their seats and started speaking together. Members from the treasury benches also stood up and confronted the opposition lawmakers. Ms Raza threatened to adjourn the proceedings and when failed to control the situation adjourned the proceedings for 10 minutes.

As she left the chair, MQM lawmakers shouted slogans against her. After 10 minutes, Speaker Durrani took the chair and started business from the agenda.

PPP’s MPA Javed Nagori tried to stage a walkout in favour of the deputy speaker but Information Minister Sharjeel Memon stopped him. He also brought back the deputy speaker to the house amid desk thumping by treasury members.

Resuming the business from order of the day, the house was informed that the privilege motion of MQM’s Khwaja Izhar and Abdul Haseeb could not be taken up as a meeting scheduled before the assembly sitting could not be held due to the absence of Senior Minister and PPP Parliamentary Party Leader Nisar Khuhro, who had left for Sukkur.

MQM’s parliamentary party leader Syed Sardar Ahmad suggested that the motion be referred to a special committee after its formation by the house to sort out the issue.

On a suggestion of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sikander Mandhro, the motion was deferred till Tuesday by the chair, saying if the meeting between the MQM and PPP was not materialised, he would give his ruling.

The adjournment motion of MQM lawmakers Heer Soho, Abdul Haseeb and Bilquis Mukhtar about the recovery of bodies of two women and three children from the river was disposed after Dr Mandhro pointed out that the it was a sub judice matter.

The government bill No 6 of 2014, The Sindh Environmental Protection Bill, 2014 was also introduced.

Irfanullah Khan Marwat, who was the chairman of the special committee on the privilege motion of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf MPA Khurram Sher Zaman, presented his report in the house. According to the report, the motion was disposed of after accepting the unconditional apology of Superintendent Engineer Karachi-South Asim Ali Khan.

The date of presentation of the report of special committee to look into the privilege motion of Dr Abdul Sattar Rajpar against DIG-Sukkur Javed Alam Odho was extended till the next session.

Earlier, responding to the call attention notice of PML-N’s Shahryar Khan Mahar, Information Minister Memon informed the house that local administration had previously recruited 12,500 employees by issuing fake appointment orders. However, as the government did not like to render them jobless, it had decided to take their tests again and those who would get through it would be allowed to retain the job.

He said not only in the local governments, the same situation was also prevailing in the education department where officials who did not have power to give jobs had issued appointment letters. However, departmental action had been initiated and those found guilty would be taken to task, he added.

Mr Mahar raised the issue of excessive appointments of 400 persons in the Taluka municipal administration of Lucky Ghulam Shah and said that the government was spending Rs15 million on a montly basis on salaries.

Responding to the call attention notice of MQM’s Kamran Akhtar, the information minister informed the house that water supply to Karachi’s district West from Hub dam had been curtailed from 100 MGD to 60 MGD because of no rains. However efforts were being made to improve the water supply in the district by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.

Responding to the call attention notice of MQM’s Naila Munir, Dr Mandhro informed the house that before the 18th amendment to the Constitution, the maintenance of Moenjodaro was a federal government subject. The funds of Rs461 million for its maintenance was invested in certificates but now they were transferred to the executive board under the provincial government which could cash them after the maturity period.He claimed that by organising the Sindh Festival at Moenjodaro, the world attention was drawn toward the oldest civilisation.

He said for projecting and improving the sites at Moenjodaro, a master plan-2018 was prepared.As soon as the house was called to order, leaders of all parliamentary groups in the assembly warmly welcomed a visiting delegation of the Kolkata Press Club, which witnessed the proceedings from the speaker’s gallery.