KARACHI, Dec 19: Nusrat Bano Seher Abbasi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional was nominated as leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday, when lawmakers belonging to four of the five opposition parties in the Sindh Assembly submitted an application in the assembly secretariat for her notification.

There appeared no hitch in her appointment as leader of the opposition as she has the support of 14 of the 18 MPAs in the joint opposition, including four non-signatory legislators of the PML-Likeminded.

When a notification designating her as leader of the opposition is issued, Ms Abbasi would become the first woman leader of the opposition in the parliamentary history of Sindh.

The application, received by acting secretary Muhammad Farooq Buriro, was signed by parliamentary party leader Jam Madad Ali, Marvi Rashdi, Dr Rafique Bhanban, Ali Ghulam Nizamani, Qazi Shamsuddin Rajar, Rahim Bux Bozdar and Rana Abdul Sattar of the PML-F, Abid Hussain Jatoi of the National People’s Party, Amanullah Mehsud of the Awami National Party and Shaharyar Mahar of the PML-Q.

Jam Madad Ali, who led the team filing the application, said: “Our party has nominated a woman lawmaker as leader of the opposition, which is a message to all others that the party gives due recognition to all those committed to ameliorating the lot of the people from its platform.”

Ms Abbasi on the occasion thanked Almighty Allah and the party leadership for her nomination as leader of the opposition and said she would try her best to come up to the expectations of her colleagues. She pledged to continue to raise both women’s and the common man’s issues.

Nusrat Bano Seher Abbasi is a law graduate and master’s in Economics from Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur. A lawyer with 12 years of professional practice, she was returned to the assembly on a seat reserved for women.

Born in Rohri, Sukkur district, she married Advocate Shabbir Raza Abbasi and shifted to Khairpur and started her legal practice with her father-in-law Allah Bux Abbasi.

She was introduced to the late Pir Pagara in 2000 and was elected president of the PML-F women wing of Khairpur district.

Speaker lauds Nusrat

Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro has said the application for notifying leader of the opposition has been received and he will take a decision in this regard according to the rules in due course of time.

Mr Khuhro was talking to a group of media men on Wednesday after a meeting with lawmakers from different opposition parties in his assembly chamber.

He said he was happy to see that the opposition had named a woman lawmaker as leader of the opposition whose performance in the assembly had been outstanding.

In reply to a question, he said he had to verify the signatures on the application. During that period, others who were not signatory to it could also apply for the position.