KARACHI, March 21: The Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, accused the Treasury benches and the Speaker of turning the House into a joke where during the last four years of its existence, the assembly had only offered Fateha and wasting the public money on holding the sessions.

Mr Khuhro was addressing a press conference in his chamber on Wednesday soon after their requisitioned session was adjourned for March 28. He recalled that in the morning when the house was called to order by Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, he requested the chair for relaxation of all relevant rules under Rule 211 to enable him to move a simple motion under Rule 178 to express solidarity with the judiciary and commend the undaunting role of all sections of society during the current judicial crises in the country.

The chair instead of allowing him to move the motion by exercising his discretionary powers put it to the house to vote and the treasury benches by rejecting it became a symbol of shame for the Sindh Assembly.

He expressed surprise over the attitude of MQM ministers whose party claimed to be a progressive party and used to refer hour long speeches of Dr Farooq Sattar about rights. He asked why were the MQM ministers not expressing solidarity with the lawyers who were being baton charged and despite Altaf Hussain’s statement their party was not taken into confidence in the reference why had the MQM ministers sided with Arbab Rahim.