KARACHI: PA oath-taking session marred by rowdyism
Originally scheduled to begin at 11am, the business of the house did not get under way till at least 12.30pm, when outgoing Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah arrived to take his place at the speaker’s chair.
As soon as one arrived at the grounds of the stately assembly building in the late morning, one got a taste of things to come. Slogans were ringing out from the balconies while the media was having a field day in the lawns, with the numerous TV channels grabbing any and every MPA possible for a sound-bite.
Moving past the crowds, journalists had a tough time reaching the press gallery, as the assembly building was simply overflowing with jiyalas. Inside the press gallery, unsavoury slogans peppered with unprintable language, aimed at former chief minister and head of the Sindh chapter of the PML-Q Arbab Ghulam Rahim, were heard, as the jiyalas let loose, high on a heady mix of euphoria and rowdyism.
Before the proceedings began, some PPP loyalists made it to the assembly floor and started chanting slogans, unfurling posters of assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto and had to be removed by hapless assembly staff.
At about 12.15pm, the Pakistan People’s Party’s members marched in, greeted by loud slogans, sporting black armbands and tricolour badges in party colours with Ms Bhutto’s face as a mark of respect for their slain leader.
As a visible display of their newfound camaraderie, members of the PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement exchanged greetings on the assembly floor, although interestingly, the MQM members started sloganeering of their own.
The PPP’s candidate for speaker of the house and former opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmad Khuhro was greeted by thunderous applause from the visitors’ gallery as he made his entrance. The two members of the Awami National Party – which has won seats in the Sindh Assembly for the first time – Amanullah Mehsud and Amir Nawab, wore the trademark red caps of Bacha Khan’s Khudai Khidmatgars, while also draping traditional Sindhi ajraks around their necks.
The hall echoed with cries of ‘Benazir’ and ‘Jiye Bhutto’ as the PPP MPAs led the sloganeering.
At 12.30pm, a stoic-looking Muzaffar Hussain Shah arrived. Finally, as dupattas were adjusted, the din died down (momentarily) as the proceedings formally began with a recitation from the Holy Qur’an.
‘Sanctity of the house’
After the recitation, the speaker requested everyone to respect the sanctity of the house and not raise slogans. His request was immediately met with even more sloganeering. Even Nisar Khuhro’s appeals for calm fell on deaf ears. During a brief moment of quiet Pir Mazharul Haq, the PPP’s designated leader of the parliamentary party, requested the members to offer fateha for Benazir Bhutto, which was followed by a prayer for the province’s and nation’s prosperity.
At 12.50pm the proceedings were paused for Azan-i-Zohr and the speaker announced a short break for prayers, which the members of the house used to mingle. Syed Qaim Ali Shah, the PPP’s nominee for chief minister, used this time to urge his party’s supporters to desist from sloganeering, but the veteran politician’s attempts had little effect as many of his party’s own MPAs were egging on the jiyalas.
At 1.15pm, the session resumed. The speaker congratulated the newly-elected members and started the process of administering the oath. The members had the option to take the oath of office in three languages – Urdu, Sindhi and English. A few PPP MPAs joined the MQM members in taking the oath in Urdu, while the oath in Sindhi was administered next. Newly elected Muttahida MPA Dr Mohammad Ali Shah, who had also taken the oath in Urdu, took the oath in English along with the two ANP members.
The son also rises
Following the oath-taking, Qaim Ali Shah had to calm down PPP supporters multiple times, while when it was his turn to sign the roll, the senior leader was greeted by loud desk thumping, as was Nisar Khuhro. The PPP’s Rafiq Engineer engineered an animated crowd chant while when Makhdoom Jamiluzzaman – the son of Makhdoom Amin Fahim – walked up to sign the roll, the galleries went wild, perhaps as a sign of respect for his father.
Though slogans of every description – including ‘go, Musharraf, go’ – continued to be raised, perhaps the most distasteful episode of the day occurred when a section of the crowd threw a lota and raised slogans to the same effect when a Q-league member walked up to sign the roll. A visibly livid Qaim Ali Shah proceeded to severely reprimand the activists responsible for the stunt.
While the male members of the PPP and MQM, aided by their energetic supporters, tried to outdo each other in sloganeering, the ladies weren’t far behind, some outdoing the jiyalas, playing to the galleries in putting up a true spectacle.
While most of the slogans raised were in favour of the PPP, before the minority MPAs signed the roll, the MQM members produced pictures of party leader Altaf Hussain, as bedlam ensued on the floor of the house amid a cacophony of competing slogans.
Nisar Khuhro tried to calm his supporters, while the MQM’s Faisal Sabzwari did likewise, as Pir Mazhar joined the fray.
At 3.45pm, a renewed effort at silencing the crowd was made for the proposition of the three resolutions that were passed on the day.
A little after 4pm, Muzaffar Hussain Shah, making another appeal for “maintaining the decorum of the highest legislative body of Sindh,” adjourned the house till 9.30am Monday.