The Sindh Assembly (SA) members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) formally applied for sitting on opposition benches on Saturday but the SA secretary claimed that the rules of the house are silent on opposition seats and the speaker can allot any seat to the MPAs.
Earlier, the MQM’s parliamentary party had held a meeting at the SA chamber, chaired by MQM’s parliamentary leader in provincial assembly Syed Sardar Ahmed. It was decided in the meeting that the party legislators will sit on opposition benches in the SA. An application in this regard was submitted to the Sindh Assembly Secretariat, which returned the requisition of MQM for allotment of opposition seats with objections.
According to insiders, the signatures of all members were mandatory to move an application for opposition benches; whereas, only 25 MPAs of the MQM had signed the application. The MQM’s provincial ministers had also not submitted their resignations according to rules because they submitted typed resignations instead of the handwritten resignations required, they added.
Acting SA Speaker Shehla Raza objected that every MPA should submit his own handwritten application separately, as it was against the assembly laws to submit an application on a single sheet paper on behalf of 52 MPAs. The MQM then decided to submit fresh applications after the objections raised by Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza and a new application was submitted with Secretary Sindh Assembly Hadi Bux Buriro.
“We do not want to sit on treasury benches any more and want to sit on opposition benches,” the MQM’s parliamentary leader told journalists afterwards.
However, Buriro was of the view that there is no mention of the word of ‘opposition’ in the assembly’s procedure rules. “[The rules] are silent regarding allocation of seats, leader of the opposition, parliamentary leader and it is at the discretion of the speaker that which seat should be given to which MPA,” he said, adding that every MPA who wants the allocation of seats need to sign the application.
