Heated debate takes place as Thatta's Shirazis criticise PPP govt

Opposition members say PPP MPAs disrupted session so they cannot highlight faults.

KARACHI: The third day of the Sindh Assembly's post-budget session turned into a political mess, as arch rivals - the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Shirazi brothers of Thatta - came face to face to discuss the fat figures of the budget.

Tempers flew as matters between PPP lawmakers and the Shirazis, who are now with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, got personal and started to threaten each other of dire consequences.

The situation got so bad that the speaker of the assembly, Agha Siraj Durrani, had to adjourn the proceedings till Thursday (today).

As soon as Aijaz Ali Shah Shirazi, a member of the opposition, started his budget speech, PPP MPAs started shouting 'lota, lota, lota' - a word usually used in politics to mean turncoat. Aijaz Ali Shah joined the PML-N last year and had contested the 2013 general elections as an independent candidate.

According to Aijaz Ali Shah, the PPP government - the ministers and bureaucrats of the finance department had set new standards of corruption.

"Earlier, the finance department officials used to get a 2% commission to release funds, but now they have increased their quota to 12%," he said while referring to complaints lodged by contractors working on different projects of the Sindh government. "This budget will not make a difference till the chief minister takes an oath from his ministers that they will not accept any bribes or indulge in nepotism." He added "at least the cabinet members should promise to be honest for this fiscal year, otherwise the budget books were useless."

This statement unleashed a war of words in the House and caused PPP members to stand in their seats. The women MPAs started shouting things against the Shirazi brothers, calling them lotas.

The opposition leader Shaharyar Mahar requested the speaker to intervene and ask the treasury to listen to the speech patiently; or be prepared for the opposition to disrupt their speeches in a similar manner.

The speaker intervened and asked Aijaz Shah Sheerazi to continue his speech. Sheerazi again criticized education department and lashed out at some officers belonging to Benazirabad (Nawabshah) who according to him have got their postings in Thatta district in order to botch the town municipal administration budget and sell forest land. He added that 95% of schools in his district were closed or run as 'ghost' schools. Senior minister Nisar Khuhro and Information minister Sharjeel Memon, who were sitting in the front row of the treasury benches, started countering allegations made by Aijaz Ali Shah and asked him to produce evidence and not waste the House's time.

The PPP women disregarded the speaker's initial warnings, and started shouting 'lota, lota,' again.

One of the most vocal MPAs, Rehana Laghari who is from Thatta and had been affiliated with the Shirazi group before she joined the PPP was asked by her former colleagues to sit down. "If we are lotas, then who are you?" he said. "Didn't you change loyalties by joining different parties?"

For a moment, no one knew what was happening. A lot of loud voices were heard and then Sharjeel Memon pointed a finger at Aijaz Ali Shah and asked him to stop threatening their women. Aijaz Ali Shah's son, Ameer Hyder, tore copies of the agenda and told Memon that he knew what the minister did inside and outside the assembly. "We know about you and your background," he said.

This aggravated the situation and gave members of both parties the opportunity to threaten each other a little more.

While speaking to the media outside the assembly, Mahar said what all the opposition members tried to do was expose how corrupt the PPP ministers were, but the ruling party ruined the session.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2014.