The Sindh Assembly session on Monday could survive the pandemonium for only about 40 minutes as Speaker Muzaffar Hussain Shah found it difficult to run the House and control the incivility of some of the MPAs and read out the prorogation order of the Governor.
The session, which was due to begin at 9:30 am, began at about 10:50 and came to an end at about 11:30 am.
Throughout the session, the opposition continued to argue against the manner in which the session was summoned. They were shouting to air their views and raising slogan against the government for its "inefficiency and inability" to control crime. They were asking for the arrest of the assassins of Abdullah Murad and demanding resignation of Sindh Governor.
Immediately after the recitation from the Holy Quran and Naat, the leader of opposition, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, on a point of order questioned the way the session was summoned. Opposition members Ali Nawaz Shah, Murad Ali Shah and Rafique Engineer also raised similar points of order.
Khuhro's contention was that proper notices were not issued to the members and it was on Sunday that most of the members were contacted and asked to attend the session.
He referred to Rule 3 of the Rules of Procedure and said that the way the session was summoned was illegal and uncalled for, as many members remained unaware of the summoning of the session.
He said that the session was illegal and without any moral justification as "sufficient time" was not given to the members to attend the session.
Law Minister Iftikhar Ahmed at a stage tried to justify the action of the governor and read out Rule (3), which further provoked the opposition.
They said that Rule 3 should be read in full and referred in its right context. Rule 3 provides for intimation of summoning of the session after issuing proper notices and sufficient time to all members so that they can attend the session.
Speaker said that neither the Governor nor any of his actions could be brought into discussion in the assembly.
He said that the manner in which the assembly had been summoned was not improper.
Shah said that any order of the governor, under rule 212, could not be questioned in the session. "The point of order has therefore been ruled out of order."
However, Murad Ali (PPP) proposed that instead of going into the controversy on legality of the order of the governor the best solution was to adjourn the House and call it again after a day or two.
The speaker said he had already given ruling and would not change it.
He asked the newly elected MQM MPA from Malir Yousuf Munir Sheikh to take oath. He took the oath and signed the register of attendance.
The speaker, before administering oath to the newly elected member, announced that the governor has given assent to five bills: 1) Sindh Fisheries (Amendment) Bill of 2003, 2) Sindh race Course Licensing (Amendment) Bill of 2003, 3) Sindh tax Evasion (Punishment) Amendment Bill of 2004, 4) The Dow University of Health Sciences Bill of 2004 and 5) the Sindh Finance Bill of 2004.
The speaker took up Question/Answer session, which could not be proceeded as the opposition did not listen to the speaker and continued raising slogans condemning the government on various issues including haphazard summoning of the session.
The Chief Minister and many other ministers were not present in the assembly. The chief secretary attended the session for a short period and preferred to leave the hall after remaining there only for five to ten minutes.
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