The Sindh Assembly on Tuesday appeared divided on a Functional League-backed resolution calling upon the provincial government to declare January 10 as a public holiday to observe the demise of the spiritual leader of the Hur community, Shah Mardan Shah Pir Pagara.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmakers, though appreciative of the veteran politician’s patriotic contributions in the province’s democratic history, were not ready to digest what Information Minister Shazia Marri called the “language” of the resolution, which declared Pagara as the “most prominent, distinguishing and matchless personality of Pakistan”.
The condolence resolution was tabled by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) lawmaker Nusrat Saher Abbasi to pay tribute to her deceased party chief.
“The phrase ‘most prominent’ must be replaced with ‘prominent’ and the word ‘distinguishing’ with ‘distinguished’,” said Marri, following which PML-F’s Abbasi and Marvi Rashidi said the senior lawmaker was wasting precious time of the House.
However, Abbasi had to omit the word “most” from her resolution after other PPP lawmakers, like Rafique Engineer, started backing Marri.
Another point of dispute was the resolution’s “resolve” that “the provincial government should announce January 10 as Pir Pagara Day and declare it a public holiday.”
The word did not go well with PPP’s Marri, Engineer, Jam Tamachi Unnar and Anwar Maher, with the information minister arguing that the legislature could make a recommendation to the provincial government, but not resolve to declare a certain day as a public holiday.
After the resolution was presented, the speaker called it a “form of recommendation”, and the call for a holiday made Engineer demand withdrawal of even gazetted holidays.
The minister said provincial schools were already enjoying enough holidays, and Unnar said public holidays should be restricted only to the Independence Day, so the nation could work more for its progress.
Mahar had a different take on the issue, saying that the government should ensure that such days are commemorated zealously.
PML-F legislator Rana Abdul Sattar, though agreed with Tamachi’s point, said, “Where other things happen (in the country), let the Sindh government announce the holiday.”
However, the House unanimously adopted the resolution with lawmakers, including Nusrat Saher Abbasi, Munawwar Ali Abbasi, Abdul Razzaque Rahimoon, Agha Siraj Durrani, Sassui Palijo, Marvi Rashidi, Masroor Jatoi, Khursheed Khokhar, Humera Alwani, Jameeluz Zaman, Sardar Ahmed, Jam Madad Ali Khan, Ali Nawaz Shah and Shazia Marri, putting their weight behind the resolution.
The members’ interest in the general discussion on the resolution, however, could be gauged from the fact that only 33 lawmakers were present in the House when Quaid League’s Rahimoon took the floor to pay tribute to the late Pagara.
Some members, led by Humera Alwani, objected when the speaker was about to call it a day at around 2:15 pm, saying that no private resolution/motion was carried on the private members’ day.
The House was adjourned to meet again at 10:00 am on Wednesday.
Resolution on 7th Pir Pagara ‘copyedited’
