Lawmakers in the Sindh Assembly (SA) were taken aback during the session on Friday when their colleague, Sardar Jam Tamachi, blasted the PPP-led legislature for being more interested in completing the 100 parliamentary days rather than discussing and resolving the problems of their voters.
The House also witnessed the lawmakers questioning the role of, what PML-F’s Marvi Rashdi termed as, the “powerless” Supply and Prices Ministry in failing to check the price hike in the province while the MQM members condemned the 80 to 100 percent increase in medicine prices on the federal level without taking the provinces onboard.
Meanwhile, taking the floor on a point of order after SA Speaker Nisar Khuhro called the House in order at 11:15am, PPP’s Tamachi said that legislatures the world over meet the entire year to resolve the problems of their people, but those in the provincial legislature are finding it hard to even meet for 100 days of a parliamentary year that would end on April 5.
“The fact that after every four sittings the [assembly] session is adjourned for another four days, now makes us ashamed of taking the transport allowance/daily allowance (TA/DA),” the Public Accounts Committee chairman said. “It is deplorable that we reassemble on Fridays to get the TA/DA and not discuss the problems of Sindh.”
When Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro termed his point of order as “point of law and order”, Tamachi urged the need for a serious attitude in the House, saying “Please don’t laugh this [matter] out”.
If viewed in the backdrop of the fact that not a single piece of legislation has come out of the current SA session which met thrice since Monday, the PPP lawmaker’s claim carries enough weight.
Talking with Pakistan Today, NPP’s Arif Mustafa Jatoi seemed to share Tamachi’s concerns. “Legislation is passed when an Assembly meets,” he said. “Since Monday, we have had only three assembly days this whole session.”
Asked if he agreed with the impression that for the government it was only about numbers, the NPP leader replied: “Yes! But still 23 days to go.”
Questioned about his own role as a coalition partner, he said: “It is the government’s responsibility to bring legislation to the House. I am only a backbencher!”
Jatoi claimed that all 15 of his private bills were refused by the PPP-led legislature. “The assembly speaker is sitting with 200 queries that I submitted last year in July to protect some ministers from answering questions,” he said.
During the proceedings, when Tamachi, Rashdi, Nusrat Seher Abbasi, Khalid Ahmed, Faisal Subzwari and Dr Ahmed Ali Shah urged the need for an effective and integrated price control system in the province, Sindh Bureau of Supply and Prices Control Minister Shoaib Bukhari expressed his helplessness to check profiteering due to lack of magisterial powers with his inspectors.
With the minister stressing the need for applying Article 148 and some “brainstorming”, the speaker expressed concern over a powerless price control department saying a “chain of command” must be established through mutual consultations.
Later, giving a statement under Rule 215, Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed criticised the federal authorities for not consulting with the provinces while allowing drug sellers to increase the prices of medicines astronomically.
Condemning the price hike, the minister said that patients could not be left at the mercy of profiteers in the drug markets and demanded the House to discuss the issue.
Replying in an affirmative, Khuhro said of following the required procedures to bring the debate in the House.
A PPP lawmaker, Javed Hussain Shah, submitted a privilege motion against the Sukkur police officials, accusing them of breaching his privilege by raiding his farmhouse and detaining the staff present there for 12 hours unwarranted. The chair formed a special nine-member committee to review the motion and report back to the House.
