KARACHI: Around 20 lawmakers from opposition and treasury benches in the Sindh Assembly on Friday participated in an extensive debate on the plight of Thar residents and suggested ways such as the extension of the Nara canal to drought-hit areas to improve their condition.

The discussion that continued for more than four hours remained inconclusive as Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani before adjourning the session informed leader of the opposition Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan that his motion on schools security could be taken up for discussion out of turn after the conclusion of the Thar debate on Monday.

Earlier, almost all the legislators who participated in the discussion said the top-most priority should be given to ensure water availability in Thar. They were of the opinion that if the Nara canal was extended to Thar areas it could be a great convenience for the people during the period of drought. The death of scores of children from malnutrition, food and water shortage and the plight of women who had to travel long distances in the desert to fetch drinking water were some of the points highlighted in the house. They demanded that the government ensure that the doctors domiciled in Thar serve for at least two years in their native district.

The debate, which was set in motion at the outset after a request by Senior Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Nisar Ahmad Khuhro to the chair to suspend all business on the order of the day, was deferred to Monday when Speaker Durrani called it a day at 4pm after receiving a message from leader of the house Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah who also wanted to speak on the Thar situation.

However, before adjourning the session till Monday at 10am, Speaker Durrani gave his word to Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan that his motion could be taken up for discussion after the Thar debate. The motion, which was signed by legislators from across the floor including ministers, reads: “This House is of the opinion that a security policy be defined and implemented by the provincial government regarding the severe threat to schools, colleges and universities in the province by terrorists.”

Earlier, MQM lawmaker Rauf Siddiqui said the Thar situation manifested criminal negligence of both federal and provincial governments. PML-F legislator Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh said that a commission comprising members of the government and the opposition along with Unicef and WHO representatives be set up to study the Thar situation and suggest a solution to stop children’s death.

PPP lawmaker Syed Sardar Ali Shah said a policy had never been made to deal with drought-like situations in Thar, which remained backward because of apprehensions of the security establishment, until last year when a committee on Thar was constituted. The committee completed its study and submitted a report to the government, he said, adding that after the cabinet’s approval a draft bill could be passed in the assembly along with Thar Development Authority Bill.

Mehtab Akbar Rashdi, Saeed Nizamani, Nusrat Saher Abbasi of the PML-F, Syeda Shehla Raza, Dr Mahesh Malani, Dr Sikander Shoro, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Ghazala Sial of the PPP, Erum Azeem Farouque, Aamir Moin Peerzada, Waqar Hussain of the MQM, Sorath Thebo of the PML-N, Hafeezuddin and Khurram Sher Zaman of PTI also spoke.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2016