Fruitless Sindh Assembly session adjourned till Monday

Speaker rejects PTI MPA’s adjournment motion on water crisis, allows PPP MPA to move same motion

KARACHI: Politics on water overshadowed the Sindh Assembly proceedings on Friday where the government, dismissing the opposition party's adjournment motion on potable water, moved its own resolution for discussion on Monday.

After a heated debate, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentary leader Khurrum Sher Zaman walked out of the session when his plea went unheard.

Earlier, as the speaker gave him the floor, the PTI MPA moved his adjournment motion and, referring to a report of the judicial commission on water, said, "People living in Sindh are compelled to drink contaminated water, which causes a number of diseases".

He added that around 75% of the potable water in the province is mixed with sewage. "This is a serious issue, so please accept my adjournment motion and allow us to discuss this issue," he said, addressing Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani. "I will protest in the House if my adjournment motion is shot down," he warned the speaker.



Parliamentary Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro not only opposed the adjournment motion, but took a jibe at the PTI and its chairperson Imran Khan, who used derogatory language against the Parliament on Wednesday.

"His [Zaman’s] leader, Imran, is cursing the Parliament and he is threating to protest inside the assembly session. I ask them to please understand the value of democracy, integrity and supremacy of the Parliament and then stage a protest here," said Khuhro in an emotional speech. "He [Imran] should be ashamed of himself for uttering such words against the Parliament," he added.

He went on to say that Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed and Imran are agents of establishment and toe its line. "I wonder how Imran has gotten an education from Oxford University," said Khuhro, adding that the water issue could not be discussed in the House at the time as it was pending before the Supreme Court.

Addressing the speaker, he said, "The adjournment motion is technically unfit, but there is a severe water crises in downstream Kotri. The Indus River and delta is dying, so please allow us to move a motion to discuss the issue on Monday".



Rejecting Zaman's adjournment motion, the speaker allowed Khuhro to move a motion. Zaman, however, protested against the speaker's attitude and walked out of the session. Later, the speaker adjourned the session till Monday.

Call for child protection

Earlier, Muttahida Qaumi Movement MPA Rana Ansar drew the attention of the House towards the Child Protection Authority, which was established in 2011.

"The Sindh government drafted the rules of the authority in 2016, but child protection units have yet to be set up at district-level," she said.

Speaking on her call attention notice, she inquired from the social welfare department minister about the delay in implementing the law.



"Given the rampant cases of child abuse in the province, it is high time the government functionalise the Child Protection Authority rather than misguiding people that the authority is working in letter and spirit,” Ansar said.

Defending her department, Adviser to the Chief Minister on Social Welfare Shamim Mumtaz refuted reports on whether the authority is lying idle in the province.

"The Child Protection Authority is working," she claimed, adding that a total of 960 cases related to child abuse and torture were reported in the province in a year.

"Of the total number, 65 are child abuse cases," she said, adding that the child protect units in various districts, taking notice of child abuse or torture cases, provide relief to the victims.