Hope floats: ‘We are not accepting resignations in the hope of reconciliation’

Nisar Khuhro claims opposition ministers being paid despite resignations.

HYDERABAD: The speaker of the Sindh Assembly, Nisar Khuhro, claims that the policy of not accepting the resignations of ministers of the opposition parties was part of the strategy of reconciliation.

“We are not accepting the resignations in the hope of reconciling with the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) and other parties,” he said at a press conference on Monday. The ministers who resigned from their posts include Jam Madad Ali, Rafique Banbhan, Shaharyar Mahar and Abid Jatoi.

Khuhro claimed that the ministers of opposition parties were still being paid salaries despite their resignations.

The four-year alliance between Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), the PML-F, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and the National Peoples’ Party ended this September after the release of the Sindh Peoples’ Local Government Ordinance.



Criticising the opposition, Khuhro said that, “They have not recommended a single line of amendment to the ordinance in the last 55 days.”

According to Khuhro, the antagonism being displayed towards the new local government system is a political maneuver aimed at discrediting PPP so that it would lose the upcoming elections.

Meanwhile, opponents of the ordinance continue to hold demonstrations all across Sindh. On Monday, the Sindh Taraqi Pasand party completed its 50-day hunger-strike. The Sindh Bachao Committee will also observe a province-wide strike against the ordinance on November 30.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2012.