KARACHI:
Trouble in the Punjab makes its way to the Sindh Assembly as legislators criticised statements made by Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz’s (PML-N) Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who is the National Assembly opposition leader.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPAs Imran Zafar Leghari and Saleem Khurshid Khokhar moved a joint privilege motion, in which Leghari quoted Khan, saying that “Zardari and his people wear the Sindh topi and ajrak when they visit Sindh to win their people’s sympathy”. He demanded an apology from Khan as he had called Sindh legislators ‘bouncers’.
“We want Chaudhry Nisar to be present before the privilege committee of the Sindh Assembly and seek an apology from the people Sindh,” he said as the house echoed with shouts of “shame, shame”.
“PML-N leaders have no idea about the values of democracy because they started their political career on the instigation of dictators. How can one expect democratic language from the man who had been a parliamentary secretary in the cabinet of General Ziaul Haq?” he said.
Leghari defended his party by saying that it does not indulge in the “politics of allegation because we are not the followers of Changa Manga politics”.
Speaker Nisar Khuhro pointed out that since there was no privilege committee in the house, the motion will have to be referred to the house committee to ascertain the rules until the chairman of the privilege committee has been elected. Law Minister Ayaz Soomro assured that the chairman will be nominated within a few days.
The privilege motion was later referred to the house and the speaker did not allow any member to speak. “We have to hold it and let the privilege committee make a decision,” he said.
‘Shahbaz Bhatti for Nobel Prize’
The assembly unanimously passed a resolution demanding the federal government recommend Shahbaz Bhatti’s name for a Nobel Prize. The resolution was jointly moved by PPP minority MPAs Khokhar and Pitanbar Sewani.
In another resolution, which was moved by Shazia Marri, the assembly expressed grief over the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Restoration of Hyderabad district
During a point of order, PPP MPA Imdad Ali Pitafi raised restoring Hyderabad district to its earlier status. “The outgoing government of Arbab Ghulam Rahim divided different districts, including Hyderabad, just to appease the feudal and other groups. I demand here to please restore the old status of Hyderabad,” he said.
Khuhro did not allow Pitafi to talk on the issue since he had not moved a resolution. Even though Pitafi continued his speech, the speaker decided to ignore him.
Session prorogued
The Sindh Assembly completed its third parliamentary year on Monday by finishing 101 days of proceedings. There were 70 days in the previous parliamentary year but it has been raised to 100 days with the promulgation of the 18th Amendment. The official year-end of the assembly is on April 4 but it was completed before time. The Speaker prorogued the session by reading a message from the governor. Another session of the assembly will start today (Tuesday) and Governor Ishratul Ebad has already sent summary to the assembly’s secretariat. Talking to The Express Tribune, Sindh Assembly Secretary Hadi Bux Buriro confirmed that the session would start today but he did not give details of its agenda.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 15th, 2011.
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