Uproar in Sindh Assembly over MQM’s missing workers

Unable to handle chaos, speaker prorogues session

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly witnessed a pandemonium on Tuesday when Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) lawmakers protested against their missing workers.

Following his failure to maintain order in the House, speaker Agha Siraj Durrani prorogued the session for an indefinite period of time.



As the session started at around 11:20am and the speaker took up the question-and-answer session, MQM deputy parliamentary leader Muhammad Hussain stood up and requested Durrani to give him time for an issue of public importance. However, the speaker told him to take up the issue after the question-and-answer session. “Please wait for a minute,” said Durrani. “I will give you the chance to speak on the point of order. Please sit down.”





Nevertheless, Hussain refused to take his seat and began his discourse. “Dozens of MQM workers have gone missing from Karachi and Hyderabad and the government has failed to recover them,” he said, adding that many activists of their party have been arrested by the law enforcement agencies but their arrests have yet to be disclosed.

“I have not allowed you [to speak],” said Durrani. “Please raise this issue after the question-and-answer session.” Meanwhile, the assembly staff switched off Hussain’s microphone, which irked MQM MPAs and they began their protest. They gathered in front of the speaker’s podium and shouted slogans against the disappearance of their workers. The speaker warned them to go back to their seats but all in vain. When the situation went out of control, Durrani prorogued the session and deferred all agenda.



The MQM parliamentarians went on to protest outside the assembly, demanding to form a medical board to ascertain the cause of death of Farooq Sattar’s coordinator, Aftab Ahmed Hussain, who died in Rangers’ custody. “We are getting the bodies of our loved ones and the government has no idea about it,” said opposition leader Khawaja Izharul Hasan. “I want to know if the writ of the government prevails here.” He added that Karachi will witness the worst law and order situation if extrajudicial killings are not stopped.

100 parliamentary days

Meanwhile, before the assembly session, the speaker congratulated all the members on completing 100 parliamentary days. However, instead of appreciating the role of the assembly on the passage of 100 parliamentary days, opposition leader Hasan said that people have gotten no relief from these 100 parliamentary days.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2016.