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Thursday March 28, 2024

Sindh opposition calls for imposing Governor’s rule

By Our Correspondent
May 20, 2020

KARACHI: The PTI’s Opposition Leader in the Sindh Assembly, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, has called for imposing the Governor’s rule in the province, expressing frustration over failure of the Sindh government to deliver.

The demand was quickly shot down by Sindh government's Murtaza Wahab and Federal Minister Fawad Ch, who said that was not possible under the Constitution. The opposition in the Sindh Assembly also took a strong exception to the decision of Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani to reschedule the opposition-requisitioned session of the provincial assembly from 20th May to 3rd June, 2020.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, along with GDA and other PTI leaders, Opposition Leader in the Sindh Assembly Naqvi said that it was better to impose Governor’s rule in the province as the Sindh government had failed to deliver. He said that the Sindh government instead of spending funds for the welfare of people is pocketing them. He said that the Article 235 of the Constitution had empowered the president to impose financial emergency in the country and he must do so protect the province from sliding on the slippery slope.

Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Firdous Shamim Naqvi strongly criticised the Speaker Durrani’s action of adjourning the requisition session as against the rules and regulations of the assembly. He said that the speaker is under obligation of law to convene the session of the assembly within 14 days of the submission of the requisition. “It seems that Agha Siraj Durrani is not the speaker of Sindh Assembly, rather he is the speaker only of Peoples Party,” said the opposition leader.

He announced holding opposition-led session of the assembly on Wednesday (today). He said that the proposed session would be used as a forum to let the people know about the misdeeds of the Sindh government. Naqvi appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to take cognizance also of the “closed doors” of the Sindh Assembly. He said that the Sindh Transport Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah (now Sindh Information Minister) had promised to bring new buses in Karachi while only 10 new passenger buses were brought into operation in the city.

MPA of Grand Democratic Alliance Barrister Hasnain Mirza said that the Sindh government should not shy away from holding the session of the Sindh Assembly if in case it thought it had performed better during the corona emergency. He said that the Sindh government was in fact afraid of lawmakers on the treasury benches in the house.

The parliamentary party leader of PTI in the house, Haleem Adil Shaikh, lamented that opportunity was being denied to the elected representatives of people to raise genuine issues of the masses in the assembly. He said that earlier the sessions of the assembly were unduly convened to issue production orders of the incarcerated leaders of the ruling PPP facing corruption charges.

As soon as the PTI's Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi called for imposing Governor's rule in the province, it was shot down by PTI's Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry. While appearing in the Geo News programme Capital Talk, Chaudhry said that Governor rule’s could not be imposed in line with the Constitution.

While also appearing in the Capital Talk, Vice-Chairman of Pakistan Bar Council Abid Saqi and President of Supreme Court Bar Association Syed Qalb-e-Hussain both also denied the possibility of Governor’s rule as per the provisions of Constitution and law.

Reacting to the opposition's demand, Sindh Law and Environment Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that the opposition in the Sindh Assembly has once again raised the demand without having an inkling of the Constitution.

Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday, Sindh law adviser advised the Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly to better read the Constitution. Naqvi does not even know which constitutional clause covers the imposition of the Governor's rule in its present form. Barrister Murtaza said the clause governing the subject lies in Article 234 of the Constitution and not Article 235.

Barrister Wahab who also acts for the spokesman for Sindh government said that the federal government was yet to pay Rs 205 billion to the province as part of the federal divisible pool during the current financial year. He said it was possible the pretext of coronavirus emergency would be used to further delay this payment to the province. He said since the Sindh government was being denied its due share in the NFC Award, the opposition should also speak on this issue and agitate against the federal government.

He said that the session of the Sindh Assembly was convened on Wednesday (today) but its commencement had been delayed due to pre-occupation related to Eid and other issues. He said that they would welcome if the opposition wanted to come to the assembly on Wednesday (today) but they would do nothing except wasting time of the public.