Sindh Assembly passes four bills despite opposition’s absence: report

KARACHI: Sindh Assembly, amidst a ruckus in the house, on Thursday passed four bills pertaining to educational institutions and introduced another four to be discussed on Friday, according to a report by a private media outlet.

In the absence of the opposition, the following bills were passed: Begum Nusrat Bhutto Women University Sukkur Bill, 2018, Shaikh Ayaz University Shikarpur Bill, 2018, the Sindh (Regularisation of Contract Employees of Khairpur Medical College, Khairpur) Bill, 2018, and the Ziauddin University (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

The melee in the house began with the rejection of an adjournment motion moved by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional’s Nusrat Abbasi which claimed 25 doctors deputed in Thar had been transferred to Karachi and Hyderabad.

Senior Minister Nisar Khuhro said no such transfers had been made. However, a few of the doctors had been allowed to leave the area for some time to complete their higher studies.

The mover did not buy the minister’s explanation and asked Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza to allow her to speak on the matter.

The chair, however, cited Rule 90 of the Rules of Procedure requiring one-fifth of the total strength of the house to rise to allow the admissibility of an adjournment motion.

Opposition leader Khwaja Izharul Hasan said the government was bent on “bulldozing” everything that came from the opposition benches. Ms Raza said she went by the book.

Amid this conversation, most of the opposition parties’ lawmakers left their seats and gathered in front of the speaker’s chair.

They began chanting “give justice to Sindh” and “show record of past 10 years’ rule” when the chair allowed Law Minister Zia Lanjar to table bills for introduction and consideration in the house.

The protesting members kept chanting slogans for around 20 minutes during which time many of them tore up documents of the day’s business and tossed the pieces into the air in front of the speaker’s chair.

During all this, on a suggestion by Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s parliamentary leader Syed Sardar Ahmed, the law minister agreed to introduce four of the bills –– all pertaining to workers –– and deferred their consideration to the next session.