The Sindh Assembly passed five bills on Wednesday in absence of the opposition while one bill was introduced and three others were sent to the concerned committees.
As per details, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) members staged a walkout from the Sindh Assembly as a token of protest against the murder of MQM Sialkot office-bearer Bao Anwer. However, the leader of the opposition complained that the chair, Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza, was not running the house as per rules and proceeding was being carried out in, what he called, a dictatorial way. The members of PML-F and PML-N also boycotted the house. The members of the PTI were not present as usual. In this way, the treasury benches found no difficulty in getting five bills approved.
The bills passed unanimously in the absence of opposition members included Govt Bill The Sindh Public Private Partnership (Amendment) Bill 2014, Govt Bill No 35/2014 The Larkana Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2014, Govt Bill No 12/2014 The National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (Sindh Administration) Bill 2014, Govt Bill No 23/2014 The Sindh Employees Old-Age Benefit Bill 2014, and the Govt Bill No 36/2014 The Sindh Education Standards and Curriculum Bill 2014. All these bills were tabled by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sikandar Mandhro.
The Govt Bill No 38/2014 The Sindh Allied Health Professional Council Bill 2014 was introduced, while Govt Bill No 19/2014 The Sindh Workers Welfare Fund Bill 2014, Govt Bill No 22/2014 The Sindh Mass Transit Authority Bill 2014, and Govt Bill No 27/2014 The Sindh Senior Citizens Welfare Bill 2014 were referred to the concerned standing committees.
The resolution moved by Dr Sikandar Shoro and other PPPP members said they condemned the finding of mutilated abandoned bodies and demanded from the federal govt to take action in this regard.
Four identical resolutions were passed to pay tributes to veteran leftist Comrade Sobho Gianchandani, who passed away the other day. These resolutions were moved by Khairunis Mughal (PPPP), Mahesh Kumar Malani, Nand Kumar (PML-F) Nusrat Sultana (PPPP) and other members.
Dr Abdul Sattar Rajpur of the PPPP and Dr Zaffar Kamali of the MQM and other members moved two separate resolutions in connection with the World Human Rights Day. These resolutions condemning the killings and recovery of abandoned and mutilated bodies of activists were also passed unanimously.
There was an adjournment motion of Muhammad Hussain Khan of the MQM about the issue of ghost teachers in the Sindh education department but the mover withdrew it as he wanted discussion on the MQM resolution. Two short notice questions were asked by Zafar Kamal and Kamran Akhtar of the MQM which were answered by the concerned ministers. The MQM members attended the house wearing black armbands.
A disabled female education activist of Thar, Assu Bai Kolhi visited the assembly gallery and she was warmly welcomed by the house. All bills were passed in the absence of opposition as the MQM, PML-F and PML-N boycotted the session and the PTI members were absent as usual. Even the quorum was lacking in the house due to their boycott but nobody pointed it out and the chair also ignored it. Lastly, the chair prorogued the house.
Outside the assembly, the MQM lawmakers staged a protest demo and raised slogans against the murder of Bao Anwer in Sialkot.