Clash of the titans: Sindh Assembly session today likely to be fiery

MQM members to wear black armbands in protest.

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly session taking place at 3pm today is likely to be a fiery one as opposition parties are expected to lay down their grievances against the local government ordinance.

The session has been called by Agha Siraj Durrani on the requisition of opposition parties to discuss the local government ordinance and the delimitation of union councils.

Members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the largest opposition party in Sindh, will attend the session with black armbands to protest the government’s attempt to pass the ordinance into a law. “We will not let the treasury pass the black law,” said Khawaja Izharul Hassan, MQM’s deputy parliamentary leader.

According to Sindh Assembly secretary GM Umar Farooq, there will be a one-point agenda pertaining to local government for which the session has been called. “After the question-answer session of the industries department, the debate on the ordinance will start,” he said.

The Pakistan Peoples Party, MQM, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional have convened their parliamentary parties’ meeting before the session to chalk out a line of action before the proceedings.

On the other hand, senior education minister Nisar Khuhro held meetings with MQM parliamentary leader Syed Sardar Ahmed at his Sindh Assembly chamber. Sources said that Khuhro assured the MQM leader that the government will resolve their grievances about the local government issues.

Later, Khuhro told the media that they believe in negotiations and that is why his party wanted to initiate dialogue with the opposition parties. “There is no harm in bringing amendments to the LG law even a few days before the poll. We can do it with the consultation of all opposition parties.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2013.