The guessing game of the reported appearance of Interior Minister Rehman Malik in the Sindh Assembly on Saturday saw the proceedings of the provincial legislature being restricted to the question hour only.
While all preparations were complete, the interior minister did not turn up at the Assembly for reasons best known to him or his party members on the treasury benches.
House Speaker Nisar Khuhro had raised many eyebrows a day earlier by summoning a sitting on Saturday, unlike routine practice.
Moreover, a lawmaker, quoting the House secretary, had disclosed to Pakistan Today that the session was convened for Malik who would brief the provincial legislators on the findings of the investigators probing the murder of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s slain leader and the country’s twice-elected prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
It is pertinent to mention here that the lawmakers from Sindh, through passing a unanimous resolution, had called upon the federal government to make public “forthwith” the investigation report regarding Bhutto’s assassination.
The interior minister was said to be due in the provincial legislature to brief the lawmakers on the results of the investigation.
However, as he did not attend the House on Saturday, Khuhro had no other option but to call it a day until Tuesday when, the sources believe, Malik is likely to show up.
The day saw the House reassembling with an hour’s delay at around 11:00 am and being adjourned as soon as the question hour ended.
Sindh Labour Minister Amir Nawab Khan responded to supplementary and starred questions of the members during the question hour.
Marvi Rashidi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional succeeded in taking the floor on a point of order to tell the House that she was intending to bring a motion against some of the members of the privilege committee who were not attending the meeting of the body to elect its chairman.
Another possible reason for an early adjournment of Saturday’s sitting might be that the lawmakers from the PPP, including the speaker, and the party’s coalition partners might have been in a hurry to join the party stalwart Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in twin ceremonies held in the afternoon at the country’s two seaports, the Port of Karachi and the Port Qasim, where the premier was the chief guest.
