Vandalism: Disgruntled Sindh Assembly worker shares grievances on building walls

Deputy secretary insists she is not ashamed, will do so again.

KARACHI: Those who work in the Sindh Assembly hold little regard for the building - the speaker feels no shame in holding family weddings and the workers vent their feelings on the walls.

In one such incident on Tuesday, the deputy secretary of the Sindh Assembly decided to share her grievances about her colleagues with the world. Siraj Fatima spray-painted her feelings on the walls in the main hall - only to be caught red-handed.

She also shouted slogans against her boss, the secretary of the assembly, and called him ‘incompetent’ and ‘a junior’. “I claim to have done this graffiti on the walls,” she declared without hesitation. “I will do it again and again. I want to see who can take action against me,” she threatened.



One of Fatima’s complaints was that the provincial assembly does not have a permanent secretary. The outgoing secretary, Hadi Bux Buriro, handed over the acting charge of the legislative assembly to his son, a junior officer. “They are all PPP [Pakistan Peoples Party] jiyalas that is why they have been given important positions,” she claimed. “I demand the higher authority to take action against the acting secretary and give me my due promotion.”

Soon after the reports of graffiti inside the building, which is a cultural heritage, went on air, the assembly staff and security sprang into action. They started erasing the paint from the main corridor and other walls of the building.

“I was sitting in my office and only came to know about the graffiti through news channels,” said the acting secretary, GM Farooq. For his part, he explained that the Sindh government had appointed him as the acting secretary given his qualifications and credentials. “I will have no objection if the authorities transferred me from this post,” he said. “This woman does not deserve the post but she has been struggling for the last few years to take over the post of secretary through such means,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, the assembly speaker, Agha Siraj Durrani, was so upset by Fatima’s actions that he suspended five security personnel for negligence of their duties. He also formed a three-member committee, which will submit its report within a week, after which he will take action against those involved in this menace. “The speaker can take strict disciplinary action against those found negligent in the duty. I can suspend and even terminate the employees, but this can be done through an impartial inquiry,” he said.

Durrani said he had requested the Sindh IGP to provide security to the assembly building but to no avail. “The IGP is not heeding to our requests so I will refer this matter to a special committee of the provincial assembly to summon him.”

‘Political’ affiliation

Fatima proudly claimed that she had been affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). She said that all employees, who were appointed on the party’s recommendation, have been sidelined by the incumbent government since the two former coalition partners developed differences.

However, MQM deputy parliamentary leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan denied these claims. “No employee of the provincial assembly has been appointed on the quota of the MQM,” he insisted. “We believe in merit and will have nothing to do with those who claim to be our workers.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2014.