PA session marred as treasury, opposition benches trade barbs

The proceedings of the Sindh Assembly’s session on Tuesday remained severely marred due to sloganeering, protest and trading of allegations between the treasury and opposition benches, and the pandemonium compelled the speaker in a short time to adjourn the sitting till Friday.

The house had witnessed much bickering at the outset of the proceedings on Monday when a serious protest was lodged by opposition legislators of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf against an alarming increase in dog-bite cases in the province.

Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani warned the opposition legislators that they should refrain from violating the decorum of the house, otherwise he would be compelled to exercise his powers against them.

He censured them for their disorderly conduct in the house of the previous day while stating that the sanctity of the assembly had been violated. Durrani said certain opposition members had also used their cell phones to make videos of their protest in the house, but doing so was against the decorum of the house.

He said that though every person had the right to do agitation, it would have been better if the opposition had lodged their protest outside the house on Monday. He said that no one would be allowed to act against the sanctity of the assembly in such a manner.

“In case you people continue to act in such a manner, then I would be left with no option but to ban bringing cell phones inside the house,” he said. He warned the lawmakers against using their cell phones for filming the proceedings of the provincial legislature.

The speaker said that the legislators were bound to keep their acts in accordance with the rules and regulations of the house; otherwise, he would be compelled to take disciplinary action against the erring legislators.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla said the opposition lawmakers were under an obligation to seek forgiveness for using uncalled remarks against them during Monday’s session. He said that all members of the house did have honour and if need so arose then they would be compelled to move a privilege motion against the conduct of the opposition legislators.

Leader of Opposition Firdous Shamim Naqvi belonging to the PTI said the chief minister should seek forgiveness from the people of the province.

The parliamentary Affairs minister said that instead of the CM the incumbent prime minister should seek forgiveness from the entire country. “Nobody knows as what sort of people have come to the house,” he added.

He said that it was their demand that the opposition leader should seek forgiveness over his remarks. Speaker Durrani said that in no way could any lawmaker use abusive language in the house and he had to take decisive action in this regard.

His remarks caused serious uproar in the house as the opposition legislators became infuriated and they started raising slogans against the treasury benches and the Sindh government of the PPP.

The PPP legislators also raised slogans against the PTI and its leadership, causing serious rumpus in the house, and this forced the speaker to adjourn the session till Friday (November 22).