Sindh Assembly welcomes new lawmakers

Many members belonging to parties as well as independents are the first-timers

KARACHI:

Several new and young faces, who have won the recent general election in Sindh, have been sworn in as lawmakers of the Sindh Assembly on Saturday.

According to the notifications issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the 130 elected seats, the PPPP, now the single largest party to form the government in the province, by securing 84 seats from different districts of Sindh. The MQM-Pakistan has obtained 28 seats, PTI-backed candidates have won 14, and both the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Jamaat-e-Islami have secured two seats each.

Including the 38 reserved seats, consisting of 29 for women and nine for minorities, the total strength of the members in the house now stands at 168.

Many members, being first-time lawmakers with no previous parliamentary experience, took their oath in the session chaired by Speaker Agha Siraj Durani, expressing hope to bring about change. Several come from dynastic politics with feudal backgrounds, while a few belong to middle-class.

Barrister Halar Wasan, son of Manzoor Wasan, a PPP senior leader and former Sindh home minister, has won the election from PS-27 Khairpur Mir's, by securing 91,131 votes against Mohammad Sharif Buriro of JUI-F. Halar holds a barrister degree from Lincoln's Inn, LLB Hons from London, and also studied at Lyceum School Karachi.

His family has been associated with the PPP since the party was launched during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's tenure. Adil Altaf Unar, son of former revenue minister Altaf Unar, has won the seat PS-13 Larkana, by bagging 89,662 votes against the GDA candidate. In the past, his family was considered arch-rivals of the PPP, giving a tough time to the party for the last four decades.

They were earlier affiliated with the PML-N, PML-Q, PTI, and GDA before joining the party under the leadership of Asif Ali Zardari in November last year. Adil Altaf has been an Aitcheson College, Lahore graduate.

Malik Sikandar Khan, son of Malik Asad Sikandar, who identifies himself as the Prince of the Kohistan area of Jamshoro, is also among the new faces in the assembly. He has garnered 42,959 votes from PS-79 seat of Jamshoro district, defeating independent candidate Malik Jangeez Khan. His father has served as MNA, MPA, and nazim of Jamshoro district.

Jameel Soomro, political secretary of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has won the PS-11 Larkana seat, Sher Mohammad Mugheri of the PPP, has secured the seat from Jacobabad, and Sheraz Shaukat Rajpur from Khairpur Mir's, are also the new faces from the PPP in the assembly.

In Karachi, Jamat-e-Islami's Muhammad Farooq has emerged victorious with 23,499 votes, defeating Abid Jeelani, an independent candidate. It is his first term in the assembly. Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman of JI has also secured the seat but announced that he was forfeiting it in favour of his runner-up over the allegation of massive rigging in the polls.

Najam Mirza of the MQM-P has secured the PS-94 Korangi. Rehan Akram of the MQM-Pakistan, who was picked up by the Rangers a few years ago, is the new face in the assembly, having secured the PS-122 from the central district, Karachi. Another MQM leader, Saeed Anwar, who has secured the seat from district East, Karachi, Khurrum Maqsood of the party, who has secured the seat from Korangi, Syed Adil Askari from PS-125 Central, are among the newcomers in the assembly.

PTI-backed independent candidate Sirbuland Khan, who also happens to be the President of the Karachi Labour Wing of the party, has emerged as a new face from PS-112 Keamari.

Another PTI-backed independent, Muhammad Shabir, who has bagged 21,531 votes defeating the PPP, JI, and MQM-Pakistan candidates, is a fresh face in the assembly. Similarly, Wajid Hussain Khan, Sajid Hussain, Ali Ahmed have won the seats from Karachi, representing the party in the provincial assembly.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2024.