Assembly turns down resolution to make Urdu official language of Sindh

Lawmakers pass resolution criticising K-Electric for overbilling

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly turned down on Tuesday a resolution to implement Urdu as the official language of the province.

The resolution was put forward by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Kamran Akhtar. “In view of Supreme Court orders, the official language in the province should be Urdu,” he said, adding that Urdu was declared as national language by the founder of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and it must be implemented without further delay.

Parliamentary minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro responded that they have yet to receive such orders from the Supreme Court to implement Urdu only as the official language.

Sindhi turns out to be second language of Pakistan

“Along with Urdu, we use Sindhi and English as official languages in the assembly and other places,” he pointed out. “This resolution aimed at implementing only Urdu in the province, which is not feasible.”

Sindhi has been the official language of the province even before the creation of Pakistan, Khuhro pointed out. Despite the speaker’s request, the MQM MPA did not withdraw his resolution, which was then rejected by the House with majority votes.

Overbilling by K-Electric

The issue of overbilling by the electricity utility seemed to have united the divided members of the assembly, who passed a unanimous resolution criticising K-Electric.

“We demand K-Electric move immediately towards time usage metering and billing,” stated the resolution moved by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman.

“K-Electric is bluntly violating Nepra tariffs, looting and plundering citizens,” said Zaman during his speech. “We demand a stop to this practice and recovery of billions of rupees illegally charged by the power utility from its consumers.”



During peak hours from 6pm to 10pm, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has fixed the rate at Rs18 per unit. While the rate for off-peak hours is Rs12, said Zaman, pointing out that K-Electric has fixed only Rs18 as the rate for all hours.

“I request you to please form a committee comprising members of this House and summon the officials of the power utility on this issue,” he said.

His views were endorsed by Pakistan Peoples Party’s Shamim Mumtaz who suggested the nationalisation of K-Electric and asked the Sindh government take over. “Our party had protested when it was being privatised during General Musharraf’s tenure,” she claimed.

MQM parliamentary leader Syed Sardar Ahmed agreed to the idea of re-nationalising K-Electric. “The institutions or departments rendering essential services should be put under the control of the government,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional’s Nusrat Sehar Abbasi drew the lawmakers’ attention towards Chinese companies that are likely to take over the power company.

“Not a single citizen is spared from the mess created by K-Electric in the name of billing,” she said. “Everything is being given to China. A time will come when it will become mandatory for all of us to learn Chinese.”

The lawmakers also passed a resolution demanding the authorities prevent dumping of untreated sewerage water into the sea. PTI MPA Dr Seema Zia moved this resolution.



Opposition prevented from raising Sehwan issue again

For the second consecutive day on Tuesday, the Sindh Assembly witnessed uproar as opposition members staged a token walkout when the ruling party turned down a resolution to condemn the Sehwan blast that claimed over 90 lives. The resolution was moved by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional’s (PML-F) parliamentary leader Nand Kumar.

“Yesterday, we discussed this matter at length and the chief minister had also given a policy statement on it. There is no need to move such a resolution,” explained parliamentary minister Nisar Khuhro.

Shouting slogans against the government and demanding the arrest of the culprits, the lawmakers belonging to PML-F, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz walked out of the session.

However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf members stayed seated and MPA Sheharyar Mahar of PML-F did not join his colleagues.

"The Sindh government has failed to establish its writ in the province. We want to condemn terrorist acts,” Kumar told the media later. The lawmakers returned after a few minutes.

Later, the speaker adjourned the session till Wednesday.