KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Monday passed a controversial bill on a new local government system in the province amid much uproar and protest from coalition lawmakers and nationalist parties, DawnNews reported.

Monday’s session started with a usual delay of 2.5 hours and, as expected, was laden with fireworks. While the provincial assembly also passed the Sindh Civil Servants’ Rules, the LG bill became the main reason for the day’s commotion and protest.

As Law Minister Ayaz Soomro presented the bill before Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro, lawmakers from the Awami National Party (ANP), as well as the Pakistan Muslim League – Functional (PML-F), and the National Peoples Party (NPP) staged a protest against the legislation, tearing copies of the bill into pieces.

According to a report, 149 members voted in favour of the ordinance while 18 were in opposition. Legislators belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, constituting an overwhelming majority in the 168-member Sindh Assembly, were supporting the LG law.

The government bill on the new local government system is based on the recently promulgated the Sindh People’s Local Government Ordinance 2012.

Lawmakers belonging to the estranged coalition partners, soon after the promulgation of the SPLGO, had announced parting of ways with the government. Besides estranged coalition parties, nationalists parties in Sindh had also opposed the new LG system while Sindh Bachayo Committee convener Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah on Sunday had given a strike call across the province for Monday against the possible passage of the LG bill.