A hat-trick for Qaim

Sindh Assembly, following two-day long sessions elected Syed Qaim Ali Shah as leader of the legislature for a third time on Thursday. Agha Siraj Durrani and Shehla Raza, also from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) were elected as speaker and deputy speaker with a majority vote, respectively. The visitors’ gallery kept chanting ear-splitting slogans of “long live Bhutto” as the PPP candidates swept polls one after another.
Two sittings of the house were put to order by the chair at 11:15am which lasted till 9pm when Qaim Ali Shah was elected as the chief executive of the province for the second consecutive term. Khairunnisa Mughal of PPP was sworn-in as 156th MPA in place of MNA-designate Shagufta Jumani. Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Dr Seema Zia of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continued to remain away from the house.
For the post of chief minister (CM), Qaim Ali of PPP, Sardar Ahmed of MQM and Imtiaz Shaikh of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) had submitted their nominations. Contenders for the speaker’s office were Durrani of PPP, Irfanullah Khan Marwat of PML-N and Khwaja Izharul Hasan of MQM.
Amid full-throated slogans, Qaim Ali of PPP secured the highest votes, 86, followed by Sardar Ahmed with 48 votes and Imtiaz Shaikh with 18 votes. The members voted by rising on their seats.
Qaim Ali Shah after being elected as the CM said Bhutto had dreamed of making Pakistan a true Islamic state. He lashed out at the Sharifs without naming them. He said “people” were trying to imitate Bhutto’s style of speech and claimed to bring Metro Bus System to Karachi. “Don’t show us how to do our job, we know it well enough,” he said.
Terming the May 11 polls as unique, the PPP stalwart underlined different welfare projects his party had carried out under the manifesto of Roti, Kapra and Makaan.
He cited the NFC award as a major achievement of his party’s five-year rule. “Bhuttos would be remembered for centuries and President Zardari is a guiding force for us,” he said. He set controlling law and order as the top priority of his government. Health, education, poverty alleviation and unemployment were other priorities the CM set for his government.
Thanking President Zardari, Faryal Talpur, Bilawal Bhutto and the house for their support, the newly elected speaker of the legislature, Agha Siraj Durrani, vowed to run the house proceedings in a balanced manner.
Meanwhile, the PTI was seen standing by and large in isolation as it is not allied with any party in Sindh.
In his maiden speech on the floor of the house, Hafeezuddin of PTI called for accountability of those responsible for the murder of what he said were 5,400 people, in politically-motivated targeted killings during the five-year rule of the PPP-led coalition government. Hafeezuddin hoped the new government would concentrate on the well being of the province that was a revenue engine for the whole country. Self-accountability, he said, was the key to improving law and order in the city.
He did not rise in favour of any of the three candidates while two of his party fellows were not seen in the house during voting for the top slot in Sindh.
Other lawmakers such as Imtiaz Sheikh and Khuhro urged the need for political parties to ignore political differences and work jointly for betterment of the people of Sindh.
PML-N lawmaker Marwat assured the PPP of full support in all positive policies in Sindh and Center, which he said, would not interfere in provincial affairs unnecessarily.