Barbs fly, shoe waved during Sindh Assembly session

Deputy speakers wants treasury members to respond to opposition's behaviour

KARACHI: Invectives and insulting and derogatory remarks are a common feature in Sindh Assembly sessions these days, but everyone was surprised on Saturday when an MPA from the Pakistan Muslim League - Functional (PML-F), Nusrat Seher Abbasi, waved a shoe at Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza to express her anger at the latter's uttering words against her.

Not only did Abbasi become emotional, she went to the deputy speaker's podium and began waving the shoe. Female MPAs from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) rolled up their sleeves to meet Abbasi's threat, however, opposition leader Khawaja Izharul Hasan and Samar Ali Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) intervened and resolved the issue.

Although the House witnessed protests since the morning over allegations and counter allegations by MPAs against each other, the situation went out of control when Population Minister Mumtaz Jakhrani, in his budget speech, criticised PML-F leader Pir Pagara and said, "PML-F's spiritual leader always manages to escape to Dubai in critical times."

Pointing a finger at Abbasi, Jakhrani said, "In ko sharam haya nahin aati [She has no shame]."



Hasan stood up in Abbasi's defence and said, "Please don't use derogatory language against a female parliamentarian." He asked the deputy speaker to expunge the remarks from the proceedings.

Instead of restraining the MPAs, Raza, addressing the treasury members, said, "You people must give a response to the opposition, who has done nothing except criticise our government and leadership."

Meanwhile, Abbasi continued protesting at her seat, but her microphone was switched off. Commenting on Abbasi's protest, Raza said, "She does not read the budget and creates unnecessary fuss in the House."

All opposition members from the PML-F, PTI, PML-N and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) - Pakistan protested against the deputy speaker's remarks and Abbasi held her shoe in her hand throughout, showing it to the deputy speaker.

In response to the threats by opposition members, the deputy speaker shouted, "Please stop staging a drama in the House. I am warning you, otherwise, I can ask security to play their role."
Raza was shocked at how Abbasi dared to threaten her with a shoe.

The House turned into a fish market when Abbasi lost her temper, walked up to the deputy speaker's podium and waved her a shoe as a threat. The deputy speaker ordered security to pull Abbasi out of the session.



Addressing the opposition, the deputy speaker said, "You are advocating for and defending a person who showed a shoe to the deputy speaker. She is insulting the chair of this session and you all are silent. You all must condemn it too."

Hasan said they would not encourage such an act. "It is also not a good practice if the deputy speaker incites her party lawmakers to jointly respond to the opposition and criticise them on the budget."

After a brief discussion, the issue was resolved. The deputy speaker said that she would now allow Abbasi to sit in the House.

Earlier, when the discussion on the budget started, MQM-Pakistan parliamentary leader Syed Sardar Ahmed suggested that the government should not have presented a deficit budget. "In the current year, the total development portfolio was around Rs274 billion, but the government couldn't utilise it so there was no need to earmark Rs334 billion in development for the upcoming fiscal year," he said, adding that there is no need for loans. "We should be realistic and allocate and spend funds looking at ground realities."



Ahmed expressed his concern and questioned a Rs192 billion investment made by the Sindh government. There is no proper record of it, he said, adding that the government has also not presented the record of the Waseela-e-Haq Scheme, under which the government has provided and enhanced small businesses and entrepreneurship among the poor.

Dismayed over the funds received from the National Finance Commission share, Ahmed said, "These funds must be utilised at the gross root level to provide relief to the masses."

The MQM-Pakistan leader diverted the attention of the House towards an auditor-general report that revealed Rs273 billion anomalies in the accounts of the Sindh government. He also demanded an audit be conducted of the food department.



PML-F parliamentary leader Nand Kumar asked the chief minister and conveyed a message to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to take notice of his important bills pending in the assembly. "The forced conversion law was passed, but the governor returned it to the assembly. Since then, the government has not taken it up," he said.
Kumar said that the Sindh government has allocated a budget for security and closed-circuit television cameras for temples, but it has yet to be implemented.

"The PPP government is attempting to build an anti-Sindh project like Zulfikarabad, but we will not let this happen," he said, adding that the government has included a subsidy for farmers, but it will go to Anwar Majeed, who is a business partner of PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari.

Planning and Development Minister Saeed Ghani recounted the number of schemes and projects, which according to him have brought drastic change in the province. He said Sharae Faisal, University Road, Tariq Road, numerous underpasses and parks have been built in Karachi and work still continues manifold.

"I will quit politics if anyone can prove Rs90 billion was spent on Larkana," he said, responding to allegations by the opposition of bungling Rs90 billion allocated for the Larkana package. "Hardly Rs28 to Rs30 billion have been spent on Larkana in the last 10 years. The reports of Rs90 billion are totally baseless," he said.

Ghani, who defeated the MQM and PTI in the Mehmoodabad by-election last year, announced that his government wants to revive the old glory of Karachi for which the CM and his team were working hard. "Among other things, we are going to build four big graveyards in Karachi. These graveyards will be located far from residential areas," he shared.

Defending PPP MNA Faryal Talpur, he refuted media reports that a case been opened against her. "Yes, the NAB [National Accountability Bureau] has started investigation against Pir Pagara," he informed the House.