KARACHI: Taking advantage of the curious absence of Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmakers, the treasury benches on Thursday got nine bills passed into law. Six of the bills that got through the house without any resistance were not even on the order of the day.

Describing the unusually heavy and swift legislation being in the best interest of the people of Sindh, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sikander Mandhro wished MQM lawmakers had been present, telling the house at the fag end of the day’s deliberation that had the (opposition) party been in attendance, it would have contributed towards the significant legislation.

“The new laws are beneficial not to any particular party or government, but to the people of Sindh,” he said while referring to the absence of MQM lawmakers on the occasion and highlighting the treasury benches’ sincerity to the people.

Out of the three bills present on the order of the day, two were taken up for consideration and passed into law. They were ‘The Sindh Prevention and Control of Thalassaemia Bill, 2013’ and ‘The Sindh Mental Health Bill, 2013’.

The law minister’s motion calling for deferment of the third one, ‘The Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2013’ for a day was also accepted by the house.

Through a supplementary order of the day, the minister brought forward introduction and consideration of seven other bills after dispensing with the provisions of the Rules 84, 85 and 86 at once.

The bills included ‘The Sindh Building Control (Amendment) Bill, 2013’ and ‘The Establishment and Regulation of the Sindh Fund Management House Bill, 2013’. Some other bills passed into law pertained to the revival of and amendment to the laws governing the Malir, Lyari, Larkana, Sehwan and Hyderabad development authorities. All the five bills were introduced and carried within 30 minutes and without any debate.

From the opposition benches, Imtiaz Shaikh and Shaharyar Mahar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) raised objections over the Sindh Building Control (Amendment) Bill, 2013. Lawmakers belonging to the other opposition parties — the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — did not intervene in the legislation business.

The PML-F members argued that they had not studied the bills not on the order of the day and, as such, they could not give their opinion on them.

The chair, however, ruled that a motion was put to the house and no objection was raised; the rules were followed accordingly.

After the ruling, the last two bills were also carried without any debate. The law minister, each time speaking on the general principles of the bill, highlighted necessity, importance and merits of the proposed laws.

Other treasury and opposition members including Imtiaz Shaikh, Khurram Sher Zaman, Sorath Thebo, Dr Sohrab Sarki, Rubina Qaimkhani, Ghulam Qadir Chandio, Rukhsana Shah, Nisar Khuhro, Sharmila Farooqi, Jam Khan Shoro and Ghazala Sial also supported the minister’s views on the thalassaemia and mental health bills.

Tribute to Zafar Baloch

The house which was called to order at 11.30am with acting Speaker Shehla Raza in the chair, offered Fateha for PPP leader associated with Lyari Amn Committee Zafar Baloch, who along with one of his close associates had been gunned down in Lyari on Wednesday evening.

Information Minister Sharjeel Memon, Kulsoom Chandio and Shamim Naz paid tribute to the slain leader and condemned his assassination. They recalled that Mr Baloch had rendered great services for the PPP as the general secretary of its Karachi South chapter and as a UC nazim. They said Mr Baloch was a respectable social and political activist of the area.

“Those who want to snatch Lyari from the PPP will never succeed in their designs as Lyari is and will remain the PPP’s stronghold,” they declared.

After the question hour, the privilege motion of the MQM’s Rauf Siddiqui was to be taken up but he was not present in the house. His motion pertained to a raid on and alleged ransacking of his public complaint office by the law-enforcement agencies on Sept 10.

The adjournment motion of Mohammad Hussain Khan and Moin Aamir Pirzada on spread of dengue fever also could not be taken up due to their absence from the proceedings.

Later, acting Speaker Shehla Raza adjourned the session till 2.15pm on Friday.