Violation of a historical tradition of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh (PA), whereby the sitting of the House is adjourned without any formal proceedings to mourn the death of a sitting lawmaker, on Wednesday irked the chief minister as the new session of the legislature got under way to discuss the COVID-19 situation in the province.
A day earlier, Sindh Human Settlement Minister Ghulam Murtaza Baloch, an MPA from the PS-88 District Malir constituency, passed away after his days-long battle with the novel coronavirus infection.
It was the brief proceedings of the House pertaining to the oath-taking of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party’s MPA-elect Sharmila Faruqui that irked CM Syed Murad Ali Shah.
Sharmila took the oath of office as an MPA as she became a member of the House on a reserved seat for women that had earlier fell vacant due to the killing of the party’s MPA Shahnaz Ansari.
Sharmila took the oath while wearing a protective shield and mask for her personal safety against the viral disease. The special session of the House got under way after several precautions were taken at the building against the spread of the coronavirus, including the installation of a walk-through sanitising gate for the MPAs.
‘Lamentable’
According to Sindh’s chief executive, who briefly spoke in the House to pay homage to his deceased cabinet colleague, the session should have been adjourned without any formal proceedings to mourn the death of the sitting MPA in due deference to the historical tradition of the legislature.
CM Shah requested PA Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani to adjourn the session of the House to mourn the death of his cabinet colleague. He said he had earlier phoned the speaker to request the adjournment of the session. “But it is lamentable that our tradition has been violated. It would have been better if no proceedings had taken place today.”
Addressing the speaker, he said the tradition of their assembly was broken, pointing out that it was the first time a violation of the custom had taken place since 1973. “It is still my request to adjourn the session.”
He said that the breaking of the tradition had saddened him much. He also said the coronavirus had emerged as a trial, as people were being deprived of their loved ones due to the health emergency.
The CM said they did not have to fight this menace, but rather people should protect themselves from the pandemic through observing the due precautions. “We have to protect ourselves. We don’t have to fight this disease. Using the word ‘fight’ is incorrect in this case.” He praised the services of his deceased cabinet colleague as a provincial minister and as a member of the House, saying that the late MPA had been a legislator twice.
PA opposition leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also agreed to the proposal of adjourning the session to mourn the death of their colleague MPA.
The PTI’s parliamentary party leader Haleem Adil Sheikh said he had lost a personal friend in the form of the deceased provincial minister with whom he had entirely friendly relations despite being in the opposition. The Sindh CM also presented a resolution to pay homage to late minister for human settlement, which was unanimously adopted by the House.