Opposition walks out as PA passes resolution to pay homage to MRD martyrs

Opposition legislators of the PTI staged a walkout from the house as the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution to pay homage to 16 pro-democracy activists who had been killed in a village of District Benazirabad during the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) on 29th September, 1983.

The opposition lawmakers staged the walkout led by Leader of Opposition Firdous Shamim Naqvi against taking up the resolution out of turn while leaving aside the agenda of the day for the private members’ day of the session. MPA Ghulam Qadir Chandio of the Pakistan Peoples Party presented the resolution.

As the opposition legislators staged the walkout, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani had to intervene and he stated that there was no justification for registering protest in the house as the resolution had been taken up to pay homage to the MRD martyrs.

The opposition lawmakers of the Muttahida Quami Movement didn’t take part in the walkout and they remained seated.

Speaking on the resolution, Tourism Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah said people who had been martyred in District Benazirabad during the pro-democracy drive had refreshed the memories of the movement earlier waged in Vietnam for its freedom against the American invasion.

He said Sindh had earlier performed the lead role in the movement against the formation of one unit in the country. He said Sindh had always been penalised as its people had been on the forefront of the movement in favour of democratic rule in the country. GDA opposition legislator Arif Mustafa Khan Jatoi appreciated the presentation of the resolution in the house to pay homage to the MRD martyrs. He recalled in the house that not just the PPP but 11 opposition political parties of that time had taken part in the MRD in the 1980s.

He said two members of the present assembly, Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Agha Siraj Durrani, had also taken part in the MRD. The GDA lawmaker said that his father Ghulam Mustafa Khan Jatoi had started the campaign at the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam in Karachi and he had been arrested at the same place.