Pandemonium: Assembly sees commotion as MPA takes oath

Opposition expresses dismay over PPP attributing by-poll win to ‘govt’s good performance’

KARACHI: After a few days of normalcy, the Sindh Assembly witnessed an uproar on Thursday, when opposition and treasury members came head to head over the by-election results of PS-86 in Dadu.

The pandemonium was created when Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah and other members of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) congratulated the newly elected MPA Saleh Shah, who contested the by-poll on the party’s ticket and secured victory against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Imdad Ali Laghari.

Congratulating Saleh, PPP members said that this time around [during by-poll in PS-86 constituency] the number of votes given to the party’s candidate is three times higher than the number of votes polled by the PPP candidate in the last general election, in this constituency.  They attributed their victory to “PPP’s [good] performance in the province.”

This irked the opposition leader, PTI’s Firdous Shamim Naqvi, who stood up on his seat and expressed dismay over the by-poll result and the Sindh government’s performance.

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“Please don’t attribute your victory to the provincial government’s performance,” he said, challenging the CM to resign from his post and contest against him in Karachi, the capital of Sindh. “People of the province know how you have damaged the education and health sectors in the province and have polluted Indus River,” said an emotionally charged Naqvi, addressing the treasury members.

Responding to his remarks, PPP members shouted slogans in favour of their party and the assembly hall echoed with “Aik Zardari sab pe bhari” [Zardari alone can deal with all].

Following this, Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani asked Naqvi to limit his speech to congratulating the newly elected MPA and avoid making controversial statements. However, disregarding the speaker’s remarks, Naqvi continued his speech and said, “People who have reservations over the by-poll result will challenge it at a proper forum but I want to make it clear that [government’s] performance is not the reason behind PPP’s win. He further said, “If such is the case, then contest elections against me.”

Responding to Naqvi, Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani said, “Let’s resign and contest the election.” He added instead of challenging the CM, he should contest election against him. Ghani said that PTI’s incompetency and bad governance will cause a bid dent to the party in the future.

When it was his turn to speak, Sharjeel Memon said that PTI members are not likely to resign as they will not be able to win any poll in the future.

As the commotion continued to disrupt the session, Speaker Durrani asked the treasury and the opposition members to discuss what’s on the agenda rather than wasting time on non-issues. Requesting all MPAs to maintain decorum, Durrani commenced the question-answer session.

Earlier, as the session started, the newly elected MPA Saleh took oath in English and thanked PPP members and the voters in his constituency for their support.

The by-poll was held following the death of PPP MPA Syed Ghulam Shah Jillani who happened to be the father of Saleh.

The CM, lauding the services of Jillani, said, “He had secured consecutive victories multiple times in this constituency, breaking all records.”  Meanwhile, PPP MPA Faryal Talpur and other party members also congratulated the newly elected MPA.

Call-attention notice

As the session progressed, PTI lawmaker Arsalan Taj moved his call-attention notice and asked Sindh Health Minister Azra Fazal Pechuho why the project pertaining to the establishment of a government hospital near NIPA had not been completed even after the provision of funds for this purpose, as part the annual development plan. He added that the area, located in Karachi’s East District, does not have a single public hospital and consequently, more than 20 private hospitals in the locality charge exorbitant fee.

“This project was included in the 2009 budget and was supposed to be completed in 2012,” he said, adding that the total cost of the project adds up to Rs1.7 billion. As many as 11 years have passed but the project hasn’t seen the light of day, said Taj. Last year, Rs50 million was allocated for the execution of the project following which, the funds were released, but the amount wasn’t spent on the project, he claimed.

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Responding to Taj, Pechuho said that 49% of work on the project is completed and the remaining construction is underway. The government wants to use the health facility to particularly treat the patients of trauma, orthopedics and rehabilitation, and hope to complete its construction by 2021, she said.

Later, Rana Ansar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) raised the issue of illegal constructions in Karachi and questioned why the government hasn’t been able to control the menace. At this, Parliamentary Secretary on Local Government Saleem Baloch said that the Sindh Building Control Authority has taken action in this regard and 650 raids have been carried out in the current year. “We have recently notified the task force to start a crackdown on mafia involved in illegal constructions,” he added.

Adeeba Hassan of PTI asked Agriculture Minister Ismail Rahu why the Sindh government has not fixed the sugarcane rates as yet and when will the crushing of sugarcane start. To this, Rahu assured her that the government will soon fix the sugarcane rates and a sugarcane board, comprising mills owners, farmers, representatives of Abadgar Board and government officials, will hold a meeting to finalise the prices. He further said that the crushing will begin on November 15.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2019.