MQM MPAs submit resignations

The MQM lawmakers on Wednesday resigned as members of the Sindh Assembly in protest against 'victimisation' of their workers through the Karachi operation. Opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan called his party members resignations a 'protest' against "monarchy in the province" and "stifling of the main opposition party's voice in the house."
The MQM lawmakers held a meeting at the party's assembly chamber while the assembly was in progress. Later, they presented their resignations in person to Speaker, Aga Siraj Khan Durrani. MQM's 41 lawmakers rendered their resignations stapled with a 19-point list detailing reasons behind their resignations. Some 10 MQM legislators including Aadil Siddiqui, Faisal Sabzwari, Adnan Ahmed, Ashfaq Mangi, Khalid bin Wilayat, Erum Azim Farooqui, Abdullah, Irteza, Iftekhar Alam and Muhammad Kamran Farooqui could not appear with their resignations.
Talking to reporters, Aga Siraj confirmed that he had received the MQM lawmakers' resignations and said that he would not make any hasty decision in that regard. "I have already told them not to resign. Once they have resigned I will tell them to take their resignations back," he said.
He said that it was the first time that such a big number of lawmakers had resigned at once from the assembly. "If the MQM lawmakers did not take back their resignations then I will have to proceed as per the rules," he said, adding that his office would first examine the resignations to know whether they bore genuine signatures of lawmakers before finally accepting them. "They can be called again for verification of their resignations to find whether they had resigned willingly, if needed," he said, urging the MQM lawmakers to review their decision and return to the assembly. He said that his ruling PPP had worked together with MQM in the province in the past and wanted to share the power with it in future too.
Earlier, the assembly adopted five bills amid low attendance as a majority was disinterested to attend the legislature. The bills are: The Sindh Local Government (Third Amendment) Bill 2015, The Sindh Zakat and Ushr (Amendment) Bill 2015, The Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University Larkana (Amendment) Bill 2015, The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (Amendment) Bill 2015 and The Malir University of Science and Technology Karachi Bill, 2015.
The house also passed a resolution, which PPP's Sharmila Farooque had tabled, with a unanimous vote to condemn the Kasur abuse scandal and demanded justice for the victims and their families. An adjournment motion of PTI lawmaker about failure of K-Electric was debated but the Speaker called it 'out of order' after the Sindh Finance Minister opposed it. The assembly now stands prorogued sine die.