PPP’s ‘political martyrs’ turn to masses for justice

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) tended to flex its political muscles in the Sindh Assembly Thursday, as earlier in the day, the Supreme Court (SC) convicted Prime Minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gilani in the contempt-of-court case for, what the Sindh lawmakers said, not violating the constitution.
The PPP legislators, though unconsciously, seemed to be putting some weight behind the impression that the ruling party, by showing a red cloth to the bull, wants to become a “political martyr” when Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro called upon the masses to do justice.
“We expect justice to be done by the Almighty and the people,” Soomro told the ill-attended Sindh Assembly sitting that was adjourned earlier at 1:20 pm, since most of the PPP ministers and Members of Provincial Assembly were accompanying the belligerent PM in Islamabad on the “black day”.
Lack of quorum was evident from the fact that only nine members were in attendance when Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro called the house to order at 11:35 am against its scheduled time of 9:30 am.
With their coalition partners from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the Awami National Party (ANP), the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), the PML-Quaid and the National People’s Party keeping mum on the “deplorable” short judicial order, PPP legislators, including the speaker, dubbed the decree as, what Soomro said, “an organised conspiracy” against the ruling PPP ahead of the general elections due early next year.
While others restricted their anger to verbal outburst, Sindh Information Minister Shazia Marri went a step forward by tying a black band around her arm to, apparently, protest the court decision.
“Enough is enough!” warned the law minister following a full-throated statement of Marri under Rule 215.
His side, he said, was being pushed against the wall to wage a political fight to save the hard-earned democracy in the country from the “salaried” people.
“We never faced off with the judiciary nor we ever threw away the nameplates of the judges, but the judiciary never digested nor recognised the PPP,” Soomro added.
Recalling the “judicial murder” of her party’s founding leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Marri said that the PM had paid the price for not violating Article 248 of the Constitution.
While the said article provides President Asif Ali Zardari immunity from being implicated in criminal cases, the apex court wanted the defiant premier to write a letter to the Swiss authorities regarding the president’s alleged involvement in the money-laundering scam.
“If someone wants to become the king of kings or the biggest dictator of all time, it would not happen,” said the information minister also reminding the apex court that the parliament was supreme and no one could, self-assumingly, up his height by convicting people in contempt cases.
“We would insist on not violating the Constitution for someone’s like or dislike,” Marri declared.
The speaker, who was visibly shocked over the report that his close friend and PPP’s former naib nazim Malik Ahmed Khan was shot dead in Lyari, also lamented the verdict.
“They controlled four martial laws and then sought a public apology,” recalled Khuhro, adding, “I think such decisions should not be taken that make them apologise again.”
In a post-session briefing, the speaker condemned the “evil minds and hands” for assassinating Khan for his dedication to the party’s policies.
“Incidents like these warrant us to take such elements to task,” said a saddened Khuhro, who was flanked by Marri and other lawmakers.
Other assembly proceedings saw ANP’s Amanullah Mehsud taking the floor on a point of order to demand, without naming him, a “permanent leave” for the Sindh home minister who, Mehsud said, was only dreaming instead of taking practical steps to prevent the targeted killings of “at least 10 to 20 innocent people on a daily basis”.
With a special focus on targeted killings, the house’s agenda for Thursday carried a general discussion on the law and order situation in Sindh, which was deferred until Monday because of the rising political temperature upped by the SC decree.
PML-F lawmaker Marvi Rashdi smelled discrimination against the Sindhi youth in the 2012 Admission Policy of the University of Karachi.
It did not go down well with Raza Haroon of the MQM when PPP’s Jam Tamachi Unnar called for maintenance of the city’s bridges, the construction of which was carried out “hastily and defectively”.
“By doing so, we can pre-empt tragic incidents like the Bhoja Air plane crash,” the Sindh Public Accounts Committee Chairman said.
This brought Haroon on his feet, explaining that it was not the defected construction by his fellow party member, former city nazim Mustafa Kamal, but the lack of maintenance the bridges were in a dire need of.
“Though made in a hurry, the quality was never compromised in the construction of bridges. When you leave a three-year void by doing away with a system [the city government], there would be problems pertaining to defects or maintenance,” said the Information Technology Minister.
An MQM lawmaker drew the house towards the half-completed resettlement scheme of the Lyari Expressway Project because of which, he said, some 6,595 schoolchildren were without education facilities for the want of finances.