KARACHI, Feb 21: The controversy over the Muttahida Qaumi Movement bill seeking to amend Article 239(4) of the constitution — and deprive the provinces of any say in the alteration of their territorial limits — showed no signs of abating when members of the Sindh Assembly committee set up to examine it exchanged harsh words with one another on Tuesday.

Law Minister Ayaz Soomro livened up the otherwise drab atmosphere in the house by expressing his feelings on a media report that the PPP is prepared to bargain over the constitutional article guaranteeing solidarity and security of the provincial boundaries.

Before Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, who was presiding over the session, could convince charged lawmakers Arif Mustafa Jatoi of the National People’s Party and Shaharyar Mahar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q to take their seats, the law minister and Mr Mahar had an exchange of bitter words.

Both Mr Jatoi and Mr Mahar wanted to give an explanation when the minister read out the report published in a newspaper that attributed the remarks to the members of the special committee of the Sindh Assembly, which was constituted to review a draft resolution opposing an amendment to Article 239(4) of the constitution.

The resolution was submitted by Masroor Jatoi and Arif Mustafa Jatoi along with the signatures of over 40 lawmakers, including those of the PPP. To review the draft resolution, a special committee of the Sindh Assembly was constituted through a Jan 31 notification.

The committee, which had held five meetings since its inception without any progress, suffered a setback on Monday when its chairman, Pir Mazhar, resigned to record his protest over the reported accusations levelled against him and the law minister by Mr Mahar, Arif Jatoi and PML-F parliamentary party leader Jam Madad Ali. They reportedly had accused Pir Mazhar and Mr
Soomro of wasting the time of the committee by adopting delaying tactics ‘to make a bargain over Sindh’.

The law minister informed the house that no proceedings of the committee could be made public until tabled in the house under Rule 142 (4) of the rules of procedure of the Sindh Assembly. He asked the speaker to take notice of the attitude of the committee members.

Mr Soomro said Sindh is our mother and nobody would be allowed to take a slice out of the province. “We are the real heirs of Sindh. PPP is the representative party of Sindh and its solidarity is our faith. Sindh belongs to the Sindhis and everyone who lives here is a Sindhi,” he remarked.

If the members were keen to remain in the media, they had better join the film industry, the law minister said.

The rules of business had to be followed, he insisted. The allegations were a conspiracy against the PPP and its coalition partners and “we know very well how to face them,” he added.

Syed Sardar Ahmad of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement fully endorsed the law minister’s statement and said the derogatory remarks should not have been made by the members.

An irritated Arif Jatoi and later Mr Mahar wanted to offer their personal explanations in response to the statement of the law minister under Rule 191, but the speaker did not allow them to speak. He pointed out that Rule 215(2) did not allow discussion in respect of the minister’s statement.

Before taking his seat, Mr Mahar was heard saying, “If people like you become heirs, phir Sindh ka Allah he hafiz hai” while Mr Jatoi was heard saying that he would make a statement in this regard after the session.

“This is not the assembly of waderas only; Ayaz Soomro is the son of a primary teacher and we are proud of him,” said PPP lawmaker Rafique Engineer on a point of order.

Although it was a private members day, several ministers made statements under Rule 215.

MQM Parliamentary Party leader and Minister Syed Sardar Ahmad was the first to make a statement under the rule. In his statement, he denied the report published in a section of the press that he had boycotted the cabinet meeting a day before. He said that following deliberations on a three-point agenda, he left the meeting as he was not feeling well.

Irrigation Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo, in his statement under Rule 215, said that 60 per cent work on the RBOD, which was a Wapda project, was completed. The rest had been stopped because some colleagues had reservations over the alignment of the drain that was changed under the Musharraf government, he added.

A meeting of experts on the subject would soon be convened to technically evaluate the project so that reservations were addressed before the FWO proceeded with the work, the minister said.

Resolution on KU adopted

After the introduction of the bill No 2 of 2012 — The Registration (Sindh Amendment) Bill 2012 whose notice was given by lawmakers Syed Khalid Ahmad, Nishat Quaderi, Rehan Zafar and Syed Manzar Imam the floor was given to Dr Ahmad Ali Shah who wanted to table his resolution out of turn under Rule 211.

The resolution reads: “This assembly resolves and recommends to the Government of Sindh to ensure that Karachi University establish at least two campuses — one at Naushahro Feroze and the other at Tharparker”.

After a minor amendment when the resolution was put to the house, it was passed by all except one.

The minor amendment was made on a suggestion of the Muttahida legislators who said their party was against discrimination on the basis of rural and urban divide and if the word ‘rural district’ was replaced with the name of a city, they would have no objection to the resolution.

Syed Sardar Ahmad, Dr Sagheer Ahmad, Syed Khalid Ahmad of the Muttahida participated in the discussion on the resolution.

PPP legislators Pir Mazhar, Sattar Rajpar, Nawab Taimour Talpur, Imdad Pitafi, Bachal Shah, Humera Alwani and Dr Sikander Mandhro termed the resolution a good move. They said it would benefit the youth who wanted to pursue higher studies.

Minister Sassui Palejo of the PPP also wanted to move a resolution regarding commemoration of the Mother Tongue Day, but she did not insist when the chair advised her that the resolution could be moved in the next session.

In this regard, PPP minister Shazia Marri suggested to the education minister that a reminder be sent to all private schools to include the Sindhi language as an optional subject, as students wanted to study Sindhi at private schools as well.

Later, Speaker Nisar Khuhro prorogued the session at 2.10pm by reading out an order of the governor in this regard.