Lawmakers of two major coalition partners, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP), on Friday locked horns in both Houses of parliament over the promulgation of Local Government Ordinance for Sindh, with the ANP legislators staging walkouts from both Houses to lodge their strong protest against the “black law”. When the NA session started, ANP MNA Pervez Khan raised concerns of his party in the House on a point of order and complained of his party not having been taken into confidence. “We are also part of the coalition but our apprehensions were ignored to appease another coalition partner,” Khan said.
“There are around five million Pashtoons in Sindh and ignoring their concerns has hurt us.” He said the local governments’ issue was a provincial issue and promulgation of ordinance when the provincial assembly was functioning was beyond perception. “We cannot be part of such a system where the local government system in Sindh has been made different than other provinces”. Responding to the points raised by the ANP leader, Chief Whip and Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah brushed aside the claim of having separate local government systems in provinces. “It is the same local government system that is in vogue in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), with slight amendment,” the minister said. He said the commissioners were there and so were the deputy commissioners. “Why objections are being raised on this system in Sindh when it is the same in KP where there is a coalition government led by the ANP?” he said. Shah said the government always pursued the policy of reconciliation and tried to take along coalition partners and offered to address apprehensions of ANP. Speaking in the Senate, Central Leader of the ANP Haji Adeel said his party would continue its boycott of the session until the withdrawal of the ordinance. Terming the ordinance a conspiracy to divide Sindh, he said the local government system introduced by former dictator Gen Musharraf had already been abolished. Adeel alleged that the system was being introduced in some parts of Sindh under a conspiracy and the ANP was not taken into confidence before promulgating the ordinance.
He said the ANP always supported the government and never indulged in politics of back mailing. Adeel also announced that the ANP Sindh minister would also tender his resignation. Responding to ANP’s allegations, Minister for Political Affairs Maula Bux Chandio expressed dismay and anguish over the allegations of a conspiracy hatched by the Sindh chief minister for division of Sindh. “If the ANP has reservations over the promulgation of the ordinance, they have a right to express the same. But no one has the right to ignore ground realities and enter a blame game. Haji Adeel has no right to claim that a conspiracy is being hatched in CM’s House to divide Sindh. Sindh cannot be divided until a single son of the soil is alive,” he said. “We know that Haji Adeel has waged struggle as a nationalist but no one can blame the PPP which has sacrificed for the federation. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto laid down their lives for the federation. We protest such an attitude,” he added.