KARACHI, Sept 18: A pandemonium caused by acrimonious verbal exchanges between the Speaker, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, and an opposition member led to the adjournment of the Sindh Assembly session less than 45 minutes after its commencement on Saturday.

There were heated exchanges also between the opposition and treasury benches which turned into a shouting bout and the session had to be adjourned, after flimsy interventions. No item from the agenda could be taken up.

The Saturday session, which was summoned on the request by the government although a requisition for the same had been filed earlier by PPP-Parliamentarians, commenced more that two hours late.

When Mr Rafique Engineer, a PPP MPA from Lyari, complained of being ignored 'deliberately' by the chair and not given a chance to speak on a point of order, the atmosphere turned tense.

The speaker told him that he would get his chance and that he could speak only when he was recognized by the chair. However, the member persisted and continued speaking. He was warned by the speaker and asked to either show respect to the chair or leave the house. Rafiq Engineer retorted: "Why should I leave... you should leave the house."

The speaker took exception to the member's attitude and said: "I will not be cowed down or blackmailed by you. If you want to speak, you first apologize to me." But the member refused to apologize.

In a very firm tone, the speaker said that Mr Rafiq Engineer's conduct was unbecoming.

In the heat of the moment, Minister Irfanullah Khan Marwat urged the speaker to adjourn the session and the chair did so declaring in a haste that "the house would now meet on Sunday morning." The slip of tongue was, however, rectified later.

Another minister, Mr Imtiaz Shaikh, tried to set the ball rolling when he stood up on a point of order even before the announcement by the speaker of the panel of chairmen. Mr Shaikh congratulated Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain on his birthday.

Leader of the opposition Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, speaking on a point of order, pointed out that it was the opposition, and not the government, which had requisitioned the session. However, he said, the treasury side decided to convene the session by itself on Friday (Sept 17). Due to Mr Hussain's birthday, the session was delayed by a day, he noted.

"We, too, want to wish Altaf Hussain on his birthday... but if he were here, we might have have a piece of his cake," he remarked in passing.

On the question of the session's status, however, he contended that instead of summoning it on its own while the opposition's requisition was also there, the government should have held two separate sessions.

Mr Khuhro sought the speaker's ruling on the opposition's requisition. The speaker promised to give the same on Monday.

The opposition leader's remarks about Altaf Hussain infuriated the Muttahida members. Also, Minister for Population Welfare Dr Saeeda Malik reacted by saying: "If he (Mr Khuhro) seeks Altaf Bhai's birthday cake, he may be provided one, but if he could ask Ms Benazir Bhutto to come back, we would like to give her a treat."

Her remarks were not welcomed by the opposition members who started raising slogans and thumping desk in favour of Benazir Bhutto. Mr Khuhro said: "If they raise question about our leader's return home, then we, too, ask them that why Altaf Hussain is not coming back although his party is now part of the coalition."

The rumpus continued unabated prompting the speaker to warn that he may call it a day unless order was not maintained in the house.

Minister for Law Chaudhary Iftekhar's remarks that the opposition wanted to turn the assembly into Regal Chowk fuelled the fuss.

At this stage, several women members from the opposition benches, especially Sassui Palejo, resented the remarks by the minister who said that Ms Bhutto was not returning because of her party leaders' deeds. He reiterated that the judiciary and press in the country was free and Ms Bhutto should return and face the charges against her.

Chaudhary Iftekhar said that on the last day of the previous session, the opposition had been informed that the next session would be convened soon but they requisitioned the session without any justification.

He maintained that aim of delaying the current session for a day was to avoid inconvenience to the members due to the road closure for the defence exhibition, Ideas-2004.

Earlier, the speaker did not allow Mr Khuhro to speak on a point of order on water issue. He was asked to submit a resolution instead.

Jam Tamachi of the opposition drew the speaker's attention towards suspension of work on Qazi Ahmed Bypass in Nawabshah.

Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim told the house that he had spoken to the federal government on this issue and informed that the Railways had halted the construction work of the road.

Hafiz Naeem of the MMA drew the speaker's attention towards the issue of TV licence fee being charged in the electric bills of mosques and madressahs.