KARACHI – Though the MQM members had returned to the Sindh Assembly on Thursday after ending their boycott, the differences between the MQM and the PPP on major issues still persisted. Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro prorogued the session without waiting for a consensus between the two parties.
It was the second continuous session of the Provincial Assembly that was convened on Tuesday, a day after prorogation of the earlier session. The previous session had started on February 22, during which the MQM had boycotted it. The second session was convened after Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s meeting in London, but it lasted only three days without taking up substantive legislation.
The PPP tried to get the Lyari and Malir Development Authorities Bill passed on the last day, but it failed as MQM’s representatives did not support it. The Bill was already a part of the agenda of the day, but MQM’s parliamentary leader Sardar Ahmed demanded the PPP leaders to defer it. Law Minister Ayaz Soomro accepted Ahmed’s demand after consulting with Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah. The Bill was then deferred until the next session.
The Bill was aimed at reviving the laws pertaining to the Malir and Lyari development authorities that had stood repealed under the Sindh Local Government (LG) Ordinance 2001. The government stated that the Ordinance had expired in October 2009 in view of Supreme Court’s July 31, 2007 verdict. Due to annulment of the laws, the government has been facing legal difficulties, especially in connection with the ownership of properties and completion of development schemes.
According to the provincial government, the laws pertaining to the development authorities were not repealed and the housing industry in these provinces was growing smoothly. In Sindh, however, due to annulment of the relevant laws, there is no progress in the housing industry. The law minister brought up another bill, the Shahdadpur Institute of Medical Sciences Bill 2011, and succeeded in getting it passed.
The government could upgrade a taluka hospital of Shahdadpur to a medical sciences institute under the Bill. The LG minister had informed the speaker that some important legislation was pending due to lack of consensus between the two coalition partners. According to the law minister, the government wanted to bring up several bills before the end of the current parliamentary year.
The bills included the Sindh Protection and Prohibition of Amenity Plots Bill, the Sindh LG Bill, the Sindh Land Revenue Act, and the Lyari and Malir Development Authorities (Revival and Amending) Bill 2009.
MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE MEETING: Later, the CM presided over the first meeting of the ministerial committee constituted by President Zardari for addressing the law and order issues in the city. The committee, comprising PPP and MQM ministers, met at the CM House to discuss issues regarding the improvement of the law and order situation.
Besides various suggestions and proposals, it was also decided that the committee would meet every week.
