‘Insulting remarks’ spark protest in PA

Published June 19, 2014
PML-N lawmaker Aijaz Shah Sheerazi speaks during the Sindh Assembly session on Wednesday.—White Star
PML-N lawmaker Aijaz Shah Sheerazi speaks during the Sindh Assembly session on Wednesday.—White Star

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly witnessed on Wednesday a noisy protest not from the opposition but from the treasury benches for the first time during the general discussion on the budget 2014-15 since Monday when a large number of women MPAs of the ruling PPP present in the house refused to listen to the chair calling for order.

The women MPAs continued calling opposition MPA Syed Aijaz Shah Sheerazi of the PML-N “Lota, Lota” in chorus and asked him to extend an apology to a woman lawmaker for ‘snubbing’ her by saying “You better keep quiet as I know your reality”.

Mr Sheerazi, who was in the assembly and was keen to speak, also refused to take his seat along with his colleagues Shah Hussain Shah Sheerazi and Syed Amir Haider Shah Sheerazi who were heard having an argument with Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon as he was protesting over passing of ‘insulting’ remarks to the woman lawmaker.

Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani — who had promised to take a resolution submitted by MQM lawmakers regarding Tuesday’s tragic incident in Lahore at the close of Wednesday’s general discussion — upon failing to restore order to the House adjourned the session at 2.10pm until Thursday 10am.

Mr Sheerazi, who is from Thatta district and before joining the the PML-N was affiliated with the PML-Q, was the ninth speaker on the third day of general discussion on the budget.

Taking the floor, he said corruption was on the rise and according to a contractor the ‘rate’ had increased from 10 per cent to 12 per cent.

“If one goes on a visit to Punjab from Sindh, one is ashamed of oneself seeing the tremendous progress during the past six years in Punjab while in our province one could not find even one kilometre road maintained and motorable despite huge allocations.”

Addressing the chief minister, who was present in the house, he said: “If you take your cabinet members to the mosque and get pledges from them on the Quran that this year they will not indulge in any sort of corruption, the fate of Sindh could change”.

These remarks provoked the women PPP lawmakers on the treasury benches who started calling Mr Sheerazi “Lota, lota”. Senior Minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro rising from his seat also protested over these remarks and asked him to name the corrupt people.

When he started taking names, including DGs and TMOs, etc, allegedly collecting million of rupees as frontmen, the house echoed with the slogans of ‘shame, shame’ and ‘Lota, lota’ before it was adjourned.

Earlier, Saeed Khan Nizamani of the PML-F, who had set the ball rolling against the PPP-led government, after taking the floor, described the budget as “no more than statistical jugglery void of anything good for the welfare of the people”.

He claimed that dacoits ruled the roost in rural Sindh and terrorists in urban centres.

“The condition of people is deteriorating. In Sanghar district, our workers are facing political victimisation,” he added.

Mohammad Hussain of the MQM in his speech made a strong case for allocation of a due share to Karachi from the Rs168 billion ADP.

He said all political parties had eyes on Karachi, but when it came to owning it, no one come forward; as a result the city, where air-conditioned Heno buses used to run and a mass transit plan was chalked out in 1987 during the mayorship of Dr Farooq Sattar, and Karachi Circular Railway used to carry commuters from one end of the city to other, now stood reduced to a city of Qingqi while Lahore had gone 25 years ahead of Karachi.

“Everyone in Punjab owns it; and as a result the metro bus project started its operation within six months and now they are working to have a metro train soon.”

He said despite the fact that their party was a coalition partner in the government, all their 185 schemes, which were suggested for inclusion in the new financial year’s ADP of Rs168 billion by its 51 MPAs in the house, were rejected.

He said some of ongoing schemes which were identified only required Rs100,000 to Rs200,000 for completion, but even then they were rejected.

At the start, he said that over the past six years of their partnership in coalition, the ADP volume had increased from Rs67 billion to Rs185 billion last year, which helped in execution of major projects and as a result the quality of life of the people in rural Sindh had improved and that was why despite conspiracies against the PPP and the MQM, the PPP was able to get heavy mandate in 2013 general elections and people living in urban centres were expecting justice in division of resources and judicious use of taxes collected from the people.

The MQM lawmaker said all political parties acted like a silent spectator when it came about Karachi and did not make a strong case to get its due share from the federal government, which had dropped all 11 mega projects of the city from the 42 submitted for including in the PSDP.

The dropped 11 schemes included K-4 water supply project, S-3 sewerage scheme, Karachi circular railway and the mass transit scheme which was initiated when Dr Farooq Sattar was the mayor of Karachi.

He said Karachi was even stopped from taking foreign assistance for implementation of the mega projects while Punjab was allowed to have direct financial contracts with Turkey and China.

Calling for raising a full voice to get due share of Karachi from the federal government for implementation of its mega projects he made a strong case for the need to impose income tax on agriculture saying that the city which generated 70 per cent revenue for Sindh had been further overburdened by imposition of additional taxes while the agriculture, whose estimated collection of taxes from water rate, land tax etc, is shown Rs500 million every year, its collection remained between Rs150 million and Rs180 million.

He stressed the need for judicious distribution of the resources in all 23 districts of Sindh and said that even if the ADP amount allocated for ongoing and new schemes be distributed to each district equally, each district would get over Rs3 billion and Karachi’s share, which has six districts, from ADP would be Rs18 billion.

Mr Hussain urged the government to review the ADP and give due consideration to the schemes submitted by the MQM for inclusion in the ADP and also the taxes proposed on urban population.

Syed Hafeezuddin of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf also called for imposition of income tax on agriculture and stressed the need for a legislation which could trickle down the benefits of resources to the poor people of the province.

He said if the agriculture “aristocracy” using Land Cruisers for travelling from one place to other, gave up as little as even the dust on their luxury vehicles wheels, the fate of the poor of the province would change.

Khairunnisa Mughal, Kulssoom Chandio, Sikander Shoro of the PPP in their speeches praised the allocations of funds to various development schemes, particularly for education, health and women empowerment and development sectors. They said that it would help mitigate hardships of the common man, promote education and quality of life.

Ms Mughal suggested that by giving slaughterhouses, bus stops, car parking to private sector and water charges making part of electricity bill, the recovery of taxes could be improved.

She pointed out that people from other province had settled in Mirpurkhas, which was a cause for concern and called for planning a strategy so that people fleeing from areas where the operation against terrorists was launched should not come and settle in Sindh.

Kamran Akhtar of the MQM said that if the policy of reconciliation had been kept in view in budget making, the province could be put on the road to progress and prosperity more effectively.

He said in the proposed budget the needs of urban centres were ignored and if they refused to pay taxes, it would create a serious situation.

Ms Sumita Afzal of the MQM said that allocations made for development schemes in the ADP were unrealistic and suggested the need for legislation to ensure completion of uplift schemes within the period.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2014

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