Lawmakers engage in verbal slugfest

Chaos mars assembly session as MPAs ignore budget debate

KARACHI: Instead of discussing the budget, Sindh Assembly members vent anger and levelled allegations against each other, using abusive and non-parliamentary language, during Tuesday's session.

With verbal threats dominating the proceedings, the situation became so heated that when Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) MPA Javed Hanif and Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP's) Saeed Ghani came to blows other lawmakers from treasury benches and opposition had to intervene, requesting Ghani and Hanif to go back to their seats.

The ruckus started when Sindh Assembly speaker Agha Siraj Durrani asked Hanif to for the umpteenth time finish his speech.

"We have kept ten minutes for all MPAs to speak. Please wind up because you have taken more time than that," speaker said while addressing the MPA. However, paying little heed to the speaker, Hanif continued his speech, which centred on criticising the PPP-led Sindh government over its "failure to allot funds for Karachi."

At this, the speaker instructed that Hanif's microphone be muted. This further riled up the MPA, who then engaged in a war of words with Ghani.

Earlier, as the session started, PPP MPA Shamim Mumtaz criticised Nusrat Seher Abbasi of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) on her remarks against PPP ministers and leadership.

"She is saying that pregnant female MPAs and ministers of our party go abroad and give birth in Europe and America so that their children may get the nationality of the said regions. One should be ashamed of such remarks," the PPP MPA censured.

At this, Abbasi started shouting in protest.

"PPP members have used derogatory language against me," she alleged, demanding that tender an apology.

And all this while, Durrani made futile attempts at maintaining the decorum of the house, asking lawmakers to focus on discussing the budget rather than engaging in an argument over non-issues.

When it was his turn to speak, Sindh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla complained to the speaker that the opposition had been creating a ruckus during assembly session since the day Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presented the budget.

"If the same situation continues, we will also [create disturbance and] not allow any member from the opposition to speak," he warned.

The commotion eventually died after a brief protest from the opposition following Chawla's remarks, however, only to begin again after a short while when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Shah Nawaz Jadoon started his budget speech. Several MPAs, including Nida Khuhro, Sadia Javed and Mumtaz souted slogans like "shame, shame, shame." This irked Durrani to the extent of adjourning the session till today (Wednesday).

Discussions amid slander

Despite the largely disruptive Sindh Assembly session, some MPAs were able to utilise their speeches effectively.

PTI MPA Jamal Siddiqui held firm that despite the allocation of Rs232 billion for development initiatives, the Sindh government had not allocated appropriate funds for Karachi. He alleged that, "for the last 12 years… most of the hospitals in Sindh are deprived of even ambulances."

Earlier, GDA MPA Shaharyar Mahar stated that the law and order situation in his constituency in Shikarpur district was abysmal, adding that, "around 26 people have been killed within two-and-a-half months." He lamented that despite the worsening situation, the Sindh government had not appointed a permanent home minister.

Khuhro criticised the federal government over the lack of quarantine facilities at Taftan border for the pilgrims arriving from Iran.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2020.