KARACHI, June 21: Several enraged opposition members in the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday beat up a treasury member for his act of sending an indecent message on a slip to a woman member.
This appeared to be an unprecedented incident of its kind in the history of the assembly.
Eshwar Lal, a minority member belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, had sent the message through a peon to Pakistan People’s Party MPA Ms Shazia Marri while the general debate on budget was in progress. She, later, received another message, sent by a Muttahida MPA, Poonjomal Bheel, through PPP MPA Shamim Ara Panhwar.
Ms Marri handed over both the slips to the leader of the opposition, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, who passed them on to some other PPP MPAs.
Provoked by the errant member’s act, several opposition members left their seats and rushed to the one occupied by Eshwar Lal in the last row of the hall and started beating him up. The disorder, which had started soon after Begum Gulzar Unnar of the PML-F ended her speech on budget, continued until Dr Irfan Gul Magsi, who was presiding over the session as a member of the Panel of Chairmen, adjourned the sitting for Zuhr prayers.
Soon after surrounding Eshwar Lal, MPAs Nasrullah Baloch, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Nawab Mohammad Wassan and Mohammad Nawaz Chandio were seen indulging in an altercation with him. They then pushed, slapped and punched him. Eshwer Lal was seen begging pardon but in vain.
Like the enraged PPP members, women MPAs from opposition benches equally disturbed by Eshwar Lal’s conduct and were seen encouraging their colleagues, asking them to ‘teach him a lesson’.
Many treasury members, including Manzoor Panhwar, Irfanullah Marwat and Nadir Akmal Legahri, came to the rescue of Eshwar Lal and finally got him freed. He then left the house. Ministers Nadir Akmal Leghari, Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashdi and Dr Saeeda Malik went to the chamber of the leader of the opposition to sort out the matter.
Later, Nisar Khuhro, along with some of his party colleagues, called on Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah and apprised him of the incident.
When the proceedings resumed at 2.30pm, the chair announced adjournment of the session till 9.30am on Thursday.
According to a handout, Law Minister Chaudhry Iftikhar and other ministers have condemned the incident that took place on the floor of the house on Wednesday, and termed the act of Eshwar Lal ‘highly deplorable’, agencies add.
They also expressed resentment over his behaviour and urged the speaker to take action against the member according to law.
At the same time, certain opposition members’ act of taking law into their hands by physically assaulting a member on the floor of the house is also highly condemnable and warrants action according to the prescribed rules, said the ministers.
Earlier, making a statement on the floor of the house on the issue of journalists being killed and kidnapped, Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui assured the Sindh Assembly that whosoever found involved in the killing of a TV staffer, Munir Sangi, would have to pay the price. He said his first interest was to bring the culprits before justice.
The minister elucidated the steps taken in this regard, saying that a judicial inquiry through District and Sessions Judge Larkana had already been ordered whereas a request had been made to the chief justice of the Sindh High Court to upgrade the level of the inquiry, i.e. through a high court judge.
He said he had ordered a judicial inquiry due to the conflicting accounts of the incident.
Regarding the alleged attack on the office of the ‘Sindh TV’ channel in Jacobabad, the minister said that the channel’s management had sent him a letter and he had ordered an inquiry accordingly.
About the disappearance of a Larkana journalist, Mr Mukesh, the home minister told the house that the local administration was trying to locate him. He, however, categorically stated that Mr Mukesh was not picked by any provincial agency.
KARACHI, June 21: Several enraged opposition members in the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday beat up a treasury member for his act of sending an indecent message on a slip to a woman member.
