Sindh made its consent to the power policy conditional, asking the centre to first resolve all long-running issues with the province, Sindh Finance Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah told the Sindh Assembly on Monday.
"The Sindh government is compelled to refuse to sign the power policy," he said on the floor of the house during the first sitting of the assembly, which underwent back-to-back pandemonium by the opposition lawmakers'' protests and walkouts.
The Sindh government tried to raise at the council of common interest, the issue of gas infrastructure development cess collection, which the federal government accumulates despite it is the provinces'' right, he said.
"The federal government had changed the gas prices without taking the provinces into confidence," he said, adding that there were also pending issues of LNG distribution and gas royalty discrepancies. He offered the federal government to settle all the issues with Sindh before introducing the power policy.
He clearly told the house that the Sindh Chief Minister would not sign the power policy unless the federal government stepped up to meet the province''s concerns. He also thanked Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for supporting Sindh''s views on the CCI platform.
Murad Ali Shah said Hesco and Sesco were the federal government''s power distribution organisations but Sindh conditionally sought the control of them to improve electricity supplies across the province.
"People of Sindh are punished for the incompetence of Hesco and Sesco," he said, adding that the province had suffered gas and power shortages. The province suffers up to 18-20 hours power cuts daily, he said.
Making an all-out attempt, the minister invited all the opposition parties to support the government on a provincial matter that was in contest with the centre. "If these issues were not brought before the CCI, Sindh will not sign power policy," he said, adding that the provincial government would only discuss the matters at the CCI and not with ministry of petroleum.
Earlier, provincial lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rejoined the assembly after several months of boycott but remained aloof from other opposition parties during all protests and walkouts that continued time to time during the chaotic session.
The house passed ''The Sindh Commission on The Status of Women Bill, 2015'', unanimously since the PML-F, PML-N and MQM had walked out in protest for they were not allowed to speak out during call-attention session. But Speaker cited the rules saying that the call-attention time had lapsed.
"Women are 50 percent of the total population," Sindh Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Dr Sikandar Mandhro told the house while arguing on the bill, saying that the government had undertaken the task to take care of women and boost up their status besides ensuring their rights.
"We work to give women a special status keeping in view the world laws," he said, adding that "the bill will help protect the women rights".
The PPP lawmaker, Rubina Qaimkhani, hoped that a commission would help implement laws related to women. "The way this commission is going to form, will oversight women''s laws implementation," she said.
Meantime, lawmakers of PML-F, and PML-N gathered in front of Speaker''s chair and chanted slogans. They were seeking more time for presenting their views on a call-attention notice as the earlier protest by MQM while Deputy Speaker, Shehla Raza was chairing the house had consumed the allocated period.
The quarrel between the MQM and Shehla Raza did not allow anyone to speak on the call-attention notice and only one out of five call-attention notices could be replied in the house. The house since remained chaotic till the opposition except PTI walked out.
The leader of opposition and other lawmakers tore up the assembly books of rules of procedures in protest after failing to press the Speaker, Aga Siraj Durrani, to get their voices heard.
Durrani and Nisar Khuhro slammed the opposition and condemned their action of tearing up the books, saying "the book was sacred and tantamount to the country''s Constitution". Both announced that they would introduce a ''censure motion'' against those who disrespected the house and the book of rules of procedures.
Earlier, MQM walked out of the house for not being allowed to speak on March 11 Rangers raid on its headquarters. MQM''s Sardar Ahmed said that Rangers did not allow the arrested workers to meet their families. Durrani replied that the matter was pending with the courts and it was the right platform which MQM should approach to. The house will meet today at 10 am.
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