KARACHI: Prayers for those affected by coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan and across the globe echoed on Friday in the Sindh Assembly session, which was adjourned to mourn the death of Shahnaz Ansari, a member of the Sindh Assembly belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party, without taking up any business.

The lawmakers, many of them wearing protective face masks as preventative measure against the spread of the novel coronavirus, kept on using newly-installed sanitizer in the house before Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani took the chair to begin proceedings at around 11.05am with a delay of over an hour.

The session started with several members from both the treasury and opposition benches rising one by one asking for prayers for the PPP’s slain member, coronavirus victims, Shaheed Wing Commander Nauman Akram, former city nazim and leader of Jamaat-i-Islami Niamatullah Khan and victims of Golimar building collapse tragedy.

According to the assembly staff, at least 37 members were present in the house. They included 18 members of the PPP, eight of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, seven of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, four of Grand Democratic Alliance and one member of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan.

Later, the speakers adjourned the sitting to March 27.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2020