PTI MPAs protest in PA against opposition leader’s arrest

Legislators in the provincial assembly belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday protested in the House against opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh being arrested again, this time in Jamshoro.

The vociferous agitation by the opposition lawmakers marred the proceedings of the PA. The MPAs left their seats and gathered near the rostrum of the speaker to register their protest, as they shouted slogans against the Sindh government.

Deputy Speaker Rehana Laghari, who was chairing the PA session, cautioned the PTI’s Dr Seema Zia against using her mobile phone camera during the session to record the proceedings because it violated the decorum of the House.

The PTI’s parliamentary party leader Khurrum Sher Zaman said the deputy speaker should inform the House about the reason behind the latest arrest of the opposition leader.

Zaman said the manner in which the opposition leader had been arrested had transgressed the privilege of MPAs. He said Sheikh had to face such an ordeal because he had been constantly exposing the corrupt practices of the provincial government.

Responding to the protest by the PTI’s MPAs, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla sarcastically said that Sheikh’s fellow legislators on the opposition benches had been very pleased, and that was why they had distributed sweets in the House.

Chawla was referring to the PTI lawmakers distributing sweets in the PA earlier because they had been celebrating the election of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi as the Punjab chief

minister.

He said the opposition legislators had shown no reaction and remained silent when a female MPA had been arrested, pointing out that at that time they had no regard for the privilege of lawmakers.

The minister was referring to the arrest of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmaker Faryal Talpur, without naming her, during the rule of the previous federal government.

He informed the House that Sheikh had been arrested in a case pertaining to charges of land grabbing because the opposition leader had illegally occupied a piece of land belonging to renowned singer Munni Begum. Following their protest in the House, the opposition MPAs later walked out of the session.

Wheat stocks

The House was informed that the food department had used tarpaulin sheets for the protection of the official wheat socks in the province against the monsoon rains.

Answering the queries of lawmakers during the question hour, Chawla, who also holds the portfolio of the food department, said the provincial government was yet to decide the support wheat price for the next season, but it would be decided soon.

He said that the annual wheat procurement target of the food department was 1.4 million tonnes, adding that the collection of 1.1 million tonnes had been completed.

Protection authority

The PA passed the Sindh Social Protection Authority Bill 2022. Chawla informed the House that the proposed provincial authority to be constituted after the adoption of the bill would go a long way in serving the underprivileged people in Sindh.

He said that such social protection services had already been launched by the provincial government in the Umerkot and Tharparkar districts. He added that the proposed authority would also work for the collection of data pertaining to the underprivileged people and the monitoring of social protection services for them.

The minister said that the forming of the proposed authority is in alignment with the manifesto of the ruling PPP, which he said stands for facilitating the lives of poor people.