Sassui Palijo reprimanded for violating rules of cabinet meeting

Palijo's portfolio as Culture Minister withdrawn.


Hafeez Tunio June 02, 2012

KARACHI: Chief Minister sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that disciplinary action would be taken against Sassui Palijo for her protest and walkout from the Sindh Cabinet meeting by temporarily suspending her office of Culture Minister.

Indeed it seems retribution was swift as a notification has already been issued wherein the Sindh Government withdrew her portfolio of Minister for Culture.

Speaking to reporters at the residence of Raza Rabbani, Shah said, “Sassui has violated the rules of the cabinet meeting and we will take action against her by taking back her portfolio, for a while.”

The Chief Minister said that Palijo had interrupted his speech before walking out of the meeting.

“We will call her for an explanation and she has to give clarification over her attitude at the meeting,” he said.

Meanwhile, Palijo told The Express Tribune that she had not interrupted the Chief Minister, but had tried to raise her concerns regarding the development of Zulfikarabad city and that the input of stakeholders be considered. However, the Chief Minister chose to ignore her, and continued with his speech.

“I am elected representative of the area. During the meeting I tried to convey chief minister and other cabinet members the grievances of local people, but CM did not give permission to speak on the issue. Therefore I have boycotted the meeting,” Palijo said.

The Cabinet had met on Saturday to discuss a proposed agreement which will see a Chinese company develop Zulfikarabad. Palijo, who belongs to Thatta, argued that thousands of acres of land allotted to local people have been cancelled in the name of development and government has yet to consult either those affected or other main stakeholders of the area so far.

“I am not against the mega project, but people of the area should be taken into confidence,” she said, before complaining that despite her repeated requests, the CM did not give her time to present the viewpoint of the PPP voters who are direct affectees of the project.

Shazia Marri said that Palijo had been accorded time to express her concerns regarding the development of the city. “But interfering the chief minister during his speech is against ethics,” she added.

Correction: An earlier version of this article had incorrectly noted that the minister raised the issue of an attack on Awami Tehreek rally. She had raised the issue of Zulfikarabad. The error is regretted.

COMMENTS (4)

observer (UK) | 11 years ago | Reply

At least one cabinet minister Ms Sasui had courage to raise the concerns of the local people who would be affected by the mega project of Zulfiqarabad. There are many issues which have to be addressed. For example compensation to the people whose land will be acquired. Whether the local people will be employed to work for the project etc etc.

Mrs Sohail Aboobaker | 11 years ago | Reply

Male superiority is a facet of Pakistani culture and our religious beliefs. The Pakiistani male can ROAR while Pakistani women are supposed to speak in submissive tones. The constant reprimands are getting tiring WE Pakistani women must stand out & scream: WE ARE TIRED OF BEING SECOND CLASS CITIZENS GIVES US EQUAL RIGHTS NOW OR GET OUT OF OUR WAY!

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