KARACHI, Nov 28: The Sindh Assembly Speaker, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, defending his actions said it was within his powers as the speaker to preserve order and decorum in the assembly. If over half-a-dozen members stand up from their seats, the speaker has to decide who to give the floor first, he said.

He said his ruling about Syed Murad Ali Shah today to leave the House and absent him from the session for tomorrow was in exercise of rules 197 (d) and (e) of the Rules of Procedure of the Sindh Assembly.

The speaker, who was talking to a group of journalists in his chamber after the House was adjourned till tomorrow, referred to the rules, which say: (d) The speaker shall “direct a member to withdraw from the assembly if in his opinion the conduct of such member is grossly disorderly”; and (e) Direct a member, who has been ordered to withdraw from the assembly more than once during the same session, to absent himself from the sittings of the assembly for period not exceeding 15 days.

In reply to a question, he said that after the break for Zohr prayers, Makhdoom Jamil-uz-Zaman, Munawwar Ali Abbasi and Saifullah Dharejo came to his chamber.

He reminded them that he had formed a house business committee comprising five members from each side. He could only act as a facilitator.

He said they could have sorted out the business mutually for the day if the opposition had tried to do so.

But, he said, the opposition’s problem was that their members did not even listen to their own leader.

In this connection, he referred to the incident of Sassi Palejo when she stood up and continued to speak non-stop for 10 minutes without his permission.

He said as far attitude of Murad Ali Shah was concerned, he stood up every now and then and start speaking which was against Rule 187 (2) which stipulates that “A member shall speak when called upon by the speaker to do so and shall address the assembly standing unless permitted otherwise.”