Through a unanimous resolution, the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday authorised the federal legislature – Parliament – to legislate for establishing the long-demanded Drug Regulatory Authority.
The private members’ day saw the proceedings of the provincial legislature marred by intermittent clashes among the lawmakers from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), and Speaker Nisar Khuhro having to call for order in the House over and over.
At one point, there was pin-drop silence in the Assembly when PPP lawmaker Agha Taimur Talpur accused Senior Education & Literacy Minister Pir Mazharul Haq of using abusive language against him and other PPP Members Provincial Assembly (MPAs) during an educational ceremony held in Umerkot.
While the education minister denied the allegations, an enraged Talpur termed the PPP’s parliamentary leader “the most disliked person of Sindh”.
The helpless speaker wanted the two PPP members to settle the issue in a parliamentary committee outside the House.
Even this did not stop Talpur from calling upon President Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to “give us leaders who could respect us”.
The MPA said he could now surmise why highhandedness is prevalent in Sindh.
Denying the charges as unfounded, the education minister demanded the speaker to expunge the personal remarks made against him.
Ordering the same, the speaker, however, did not look convinced that even this would work in the presence of the electronic media that, he said, was broadcasting the House proceedings live.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves. What message are we conveying to the outsiders?” said a furious Agriculture Minister Ali Nawaz Shah when the education minister refused to Talpur’s demand of swearing on the holy Quran to support his denial, following which the agriculture minister walked out of the House.
This brought the row to an end, with Nadir Magsi and Agha Siraj Durrani huddling with their two party members on their seats.
Another quarrel took place as soon as the speaker called the House to order with a 90-minute delay at 11:30 am, when the PPP legislators Durrani and Dr Muhammad Ali Shah exchanged barbs, with the former blaming the latter for launching a character-assassinating media campaign against him.
The brief argument, however, seemingly settled when Durrani sought an apology from Shah.
Then, MQM lawmaker Dr Sagheer Ahmed (the Sindh Health Minister) engaged himself in a verbal brawl with PML-F legislator Nusrat Saher Abbasi and blasted her for “political point-scoring” over the issue of a hunger strike observed by a group of doctors demanding time-scale promotion.
Abbasi was on her feet when the health minister called for “a show of political maturity” by the coalition partners, instead of politicising important issues.
The PML-F legislator, later joined by party member Jam Madad Ali, called for a “statement” from the health minister saying two of the striking doctors were in critical condition.
The minister said he was fully aware of the protesting doctors’ problems, saying a four-minister committee – comprising Pir Mazharul Haq, Murad Ali Shah, Sardar Ahmed and himself, and constituted by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah – was negotiating with the doctors.
If that was not enough, the introduction of PPP lawmaker Humera Alwani’s private bill, the Domestic Violence against Women and Children (Prevention and Protection Bill)-2008, triggered a lengthy but, what the speaker said, useless debate in the House.
With the speaker warning against “credit-taking”, MQM lawmakers, like Bilquis Mukhtar, requested the chair to include their names in the bill as an introducer.
While Alwani looked firm to introduce the bill, the debate was almost concluded by the Finance and Law ministers saying the private bill must come through a proper channel and should go to the standing committees concerned and the provincial cabinet, which would weigh its financial implications.
When Women Development Minister Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto told the House that consultations are being made on the bill that was pending for the past nine years, Khuhro said, “I defer it (the bill) for a week, putting a moral obligation on you to expedite work on it.”
A privilege motion of PML-F lawmaker Marvi Rashidi against the education secretary also created some noisy scenes when the female lawmaker refused to hear the written response of the secretary from the education minister.
The speaker later granted permission for holding a special committee meeting to sort out the matter.
The speaker stopped the proceedings twice when the members’ visit to the chief minister’s seat grew frequent.
“Do you want me to stop the chief minister from coming to this House?” the speaker asked the Assembly members.
Before the chair could call it a day until 10:00 am on Friday, the House hastily adopted a resolution of PPP lawmaker Anwar Maher.
“The provincial assembly of Sindh hereby authorises the Parliament of Pakistan to enact a law regarding the establishment of a drug regulatory authority,” said the resolution tabled by the lawmaker out of turn under Rule 211 of the Rules of Procedures of the Sindh Assembly. The draft came under Article 144 of the Constitution.
Earlier, during the question-hour, Sindh Information Technology Minister Raza Haroon told the House that the Sindh police are installing at least 900 surveillance cameras in Karachi for security purposes.
