Sindh Assembly session: Talking about everything but what’s on the agenda
MPAs paid tribute to a social worker who just received the International Women of Courage award 2011.
KARACHI:
The Sindh Assembly session was adjourned on Tuesday without touching on the day’s agenda. Tuesday is private member day, when MPAs can table resolutions, private motions and bills.
Even though the legislators constantly reminded the speaker to take up their issues before the session ended, Nisar Khuhro did not seem too concerned. Only two resolutions were passed - and that too out of order, which means they had not been included in the agenda earlier.
Matters left out included a resolution to stop forced conversions for the security of people of different faiths, a resolution to regularise the employment of all contract employees in the Sindh government and a bill to ensure that public transporters only stop or pull over their vehicles at designated spots.
Fake human rights organisations
‘Fake’ human rights organisations are targeting specific people and institutions by printing fabricated surveys and studies, said education minister Pir Mazharul Haq. “We should appreciate Amnesty International and the Human Rights Organisation of Pakistan (HRCP) because they have been striving for public good,” he said, adding that the government would not tolerate organisations working under different names in the city with a malicious agenda to “defame” people.
Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro told the assembly that this problem falls in the domain of the human rights secretary and his department. “I will direct the secretary to investigate and take action against these organisations.”
Target killings
Pakistan Muslim League - Functional (PML-F) MPA Marvi Rashdi criticised the government for not doing enough to stop target killings in the city. “Where are the law-enforcement agencies? Why do the killings not end?” However, the home minister was not present in the session and nobody else chose to respond.
Poverty survey
Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza discussed obstacles in the poverty survey being carried out under the Benazir Bhutto Income Support Programme (BISP). She said that some groups in Karachi have been threatening the survey teams. “They’ve been forcing the teams to survey just 25 houses in a block,” she said. The survey helps to identify households that are earning less than Rs6,000 a month and then these people are registered under the programme and provided financial aid.
Woman of courage
The MPAs paid tribute to Ghulam Sughra Solangi, a social worker from Sindh who just received the International Women of Courage award 2011 from US First Lady Michelle Obama. Marvi Rashidi said that Sughra, who belonged to Arif Solangi Goth of Khairpur Mirs, was one of the 10 women in the world who received the award. Sughra started her education when her husband divorced her, saying “you are not educated”. She asked her children to teach her and later, she mobilised other women in the village to get educated as well. She also launched an NGO, Marvi Rural Development Organisation.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2011.
The Sindh Assembly session was adjourned on Tuesday without touching on the day’s agenda. Tuesday is private member day, when MPAs can table resolutions, private motions and bills.
Even though the legislators constantly reminded the speaker to take up their issues before the session ended, Nisar Khuhro did not seem too concerned. Only two resolutions were passed - and that too out of order, which means they had not been included in the agenda earlier.
Matters left out included a resolution to stop forced conversions for the security of people of different faiths, a resolution to regularise the employment of all contract employees in the Sindh government and a bill to ensure that public transporters only stop or pull over their vehicles at designated spots.
Fake human rights organisations
‘Fake’ human rights organisations are targeting specific people and institutions by printing fabricated surveys and studies, said education minister Pir Mazharul Haq. “We should appreciate Amnesty International and the Human Rights Organisation of Pakistan (HRCP) because they have been striving for public good,” he said, adding that the government would not tolerate organisations working under different names in the city with a malicious agenda to “defame” people.
Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro told the assembly that this problem falls in the domain of the human rights secretary and his department. “I will direct the secretary to investigate and take action against these organisations.”
Target killings
Pakistan Muslim League - Functional (PML-F) MPA Marvi Rashdi criticised the government for not doing enough to stop target killings in the city. “Where are the law-enforcement agencies? Why do the killings not end?” However, the home minister was not present in the session and nobody else chose to respond.
Poverty survey
Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza discussed obstacles in the poverty survey being carried out under the Benazir Bhutto Income Support Programme (BISP). She said that some groups in Karachi have been threatening the survey teams. “They’ve been forcing the teams to survey just 25 houses in a block,” she said. The survey helps to identify households that are earning less than Rs6,000 a month and then these people are registered under the programme and provided financial aid.
Woman of courage
The MPAs paid tribute to Ghulam Sughra Solangi, a social worker from Sindh who just received the International Women of Courage award 2011 from US First Lady Michelle Obama. Marvi Rashidi said that Sughra, who belonged to Arif Solangi Goth of Khairpur Mirs, was one of the 10 women in the world who received the award. Sughra started her education when her husband divorced her, saying “you are not educated”. She asked her children to teach her and later, she mobilised other women in the village to get educated as well. She also launched an NGO, Marvi Rural Development Organisation.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2011.