KARACHI, Sept 5: The May 12 bloodshed and violence in Karachi echoed again when the City Council resumed its session on Wednesday and the convener, Ms Nasreen Jalil, did not allow any argument on the episode though both the sides of the divide kept insisting on a debate.

The issue was raised by Masood Mehmood of the Haq Parast Group who is also one of the senior presiding officer. He cited a recent press report that claimed that the “terrorists involved in the May 12 incident have been identified” and that they belonged to political and linguistic parties.

Mr Mehmood alleged that the terrorists referred to belonged to the political parties which had their representatives also in this house, he requested the chair to allow a debate on the issue.

He charged that the opposition had planned to disturb the proceedings of the council to exploit the issue for political gain as they had brought placards in the house and intended to unfurl them to bully the treasury benches.

Responding immediately, leader of the opposition Saeed Ghani of Awam Dost Group said, “We welcome Mr Masood Mehmood’s suggestion for a debate,” and added that there should be a thorough debate on all acts of terrorism that had taken place on May 12 in Karachi.

Mr Ghani also accused the treasury of planning to repeat the April 26 incident when opposition members were subjected to physical assaults by certain treasury members. He claimed he had received a tip off about the plan from one of the treasury members.

His remarks sparked off an uproar in the house which was followed by a pandemonium as members from both the sides started raising slogans against each other.

Abdul Jalil of the Haq Parast Group told the chair that the house should not indulge in arguments on false claims, and requested that Mr Ghani’s remarks be expunged.

A visibly perturbed convener tried to restore order, urging both the sides to maintain decorum of the house. She repeatedly asked them to stop exchanging hot words and start business of the day as per the agenda. She categorically stated that no debate on the May 12 incident could be allowed in this session.

Amid a charged atmosphere, the proceedings were repeatedly disrupted by the verbal exchange of hot words which finally forced the chair to suspend the session briefly.

When the house reassembled, Mr Ghani stood up on a point of order and drew the chair’s attention to a report about cracks that had appeared in the parapets of the recently inaugurated flyover near the Civic Centre.

He demanded that the council be informed about the current status of all the ongoing development schemes in the city, whether approved by the council or not.

Treasury leaders Asif Siddiqui opposed the demand, maintaining that there was no such precedence of the kind in the past.

Advising the opposition not to take up any issue that was not on the day’s agenda, the convener asked them to maintain the decorum of the house. Realising that the opposition was not heeding her advice, the chair suspended the session again and reminded the members that she would not allow a debate on any subject that was not on the agenda.

Registering their protest against the attitude of the chair and the treasury benches, the opposition staged a walkout.

Business sans opposition

Later, the house resumed its session sans opposition and adopted a resolution urging the Sindh government to make amendments to certain sections of the Muslim Family Law.

According to the suggested amendments, a union council nazim should act as chairman of the reconciliation council and be empowered to appoint Nikah registrars.

The house was later adjourned for the day.