KARACHI: As the lawmakers continued to offer their views on Sindh’s budget for the next fiscal, speeches made by the members belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and those who have defected to the Pak Sarzameen Party highlighted serious differences between them.

During their speeches, some MQM members as well as defectors on the record and in a thinly veiled manner referred to the London-based founder Altaf Hussain and one of them from the PSP thanked the latter for making her part of the assembly.

Friday’s session began over an hour late with Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in the chair. It was the fifth day of discussion on next year’s budget and supplementary budget for the current fiscal.

An MQM-P defector says she was ready to resign in Sept 2016 on call of the London-based party founder

Five of the eight members that spoke during the day’s proceedings originally belonged to the MQM. Two of them represent the MQM-Pakistan, another two defected to the PSP and one now sits on the treasury benches.

Allegations and counter-allegations among the former colleagues began when Waqar Shah of the MQM-P during his speech criticised those who had parted ways with the MQM, but had not vacated their seats.

“I have respect for Jam Madad Ali and Imtiaz Shaikh who, when they joined the Pakistan Peoples Party, vacated their seats, contested again in by-elections and returned to the house respectably. But, there are certain individuals who have left our party, yet, are stuck to their seats without mandate,” said Mr Shah.

MQM-P ‘put us in the dark’ about Article 6 resolution

He got an angry reply from an otherwise calm and composed Naila Munir who said during the days after Altaf Hussain’s Aug 22, 2016 incendiary speech she was ready to resign from her seat on the call of her leader, but was stopped by other party leaders.

She said in Sept 2016 when the MQM joined hands with the treasury benches to table a resolution against Mr Hussain for his provocative speech he made a month earlier there was no mention of Article 6 (high treason) of the Constitution in the resolution which was showed to her. “They [MQM-P leaders] put us in the dark and got the resolution signed by me deceitfully.”

She was referring to the resolution which sought a treason case against those responsible for anti-Pakistan slogans, hate speech and subsequent violence on Aug 22, 2016.

She said even Mustafa Kamal, her present leader, did not demand such a punishment for Mr Hussain that his own party lawmakers demanded then.

She thanked the MQM’s self-exiled founder for making her a member of the provincial assembly. “I am thankful to Quaid-i-Tehreek Altaf Hussain who granted me this seat. Many others have deceived him.”

MQM’s Mohammad Hussain’s almost entire speech was directed against the ruling PPP in which he claimed, “Sindhudesh got strengthened whenever PPP came in power. But, the slogan of Sindhudesh died with the emergence of MQM.”

He said the country’s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan’s quota system was between the then two wings of the country while Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s quota system was for Sindh only.

He claimed Karachi’s population had been shown less than the actual figures since 1971 when almost half of the city’s population was not counted by the census authorities.

“The same tactic is applied again during last year’s census, which has gravely hurt Sindh,” he said.

He also thanked Muttahida founder Altaf Hussain for choosing him to contest and win five elections.

However, he said those who had left the party could never tear it up. Criticising the defectors, he said: “I will leave the party if and whenever I develop differences, but I will also leave everything that the party has given to me”.

PSP’s Saifuddin Khalid said Mustafa Kamal was “a member of a family who left the father’s house because of differences unlike others who have occupied the house”.

He said later, upon differences, other sons and daughters too joined Mr Kamal.

“Those who have still occupied the father’s house should get a house of their own and fight with their own strength. We have not occupied anyone’s house at least,” he added.

Budget debate continues

Heer Soho, an MQM member who has defected to the Pakistan Peoples Party, refrained from the war of words and kept herself confined to the budget speech during which she criticised the federal government for keeping just two schemes in next year’s annual development programme for Sindh.

Referring to Pakistan Muslim League-Functional’s Pir Sadruddin Rashdi, who is also a federal minister, she said those who were sitting in the federal government and had “unconstitutionally” presented full year’s budget were terming Sindh’s budget unconstitutional.

During her speech, PML-F’s Nusrat Abbasi kept talking and chanting slogans with her mike off.

PPP’s Bari Pitafi said better security situation was important for Sindh. He said Ghotki district was notorious for rampant kidnappings for ransom, however, now such incidents had been reduced. He demanded more tube wells powered by solar energy and said that the livestock sector needed greater investment.

Besides, he said Ghotki was the second largest taxpaying district after Karachi, yet, local population was being denied job opportunities by the companies working there.

Referring to a PML-F member’s speech regarding forced conversion of Rinkle Kumari, he said those who were responsible for the case were supported by the said lawmaker’s party in a by-election.

PPP’s Sohrab Sarki said that the MQM was perhaps the only party in the world which had expelled its own leader. Referring to an earlier speech by an MQM member, he said: “Slogan for Sindhudesh is chanted whenever you talk about bifurcation of Sindh.”

He said PSP leader Mustafa Kamal had conceded the MQM’s politics had inflicted a great harm to generations. Blaming retired General Pervez Musharraf for fanning terror, he regretted that the MQM lawmakers were chanting old slogans to win next elections.

PPP blamed for corruption in Sindh

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Khurram Sher Zaman said the PPP government had failed to rein in rampant corruption in Sindh. He said the province was burdened with the loan of Rs76 billion.

He claimed that the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) was purchasing stents on expensive rates, which included the “poisonous ones” the hospital purchased from a UK company. He said more than 1,200 health facilities had been given to the private (non-governmental) organisations.

The PTI lawmaker accused the local government department of being involved in massive corruption. He added that not a single penny was spent on water and sanitation schemes during the current fiscal year.

Supporting Sindh’s general stance against the construction of the Kalabagh dam, he asked, “Who has stopped you building small dams to preserve water?”

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2018