With Awami National Party lawmakers still remaining off the house, the treasury and opposition members in Sindh Assembly on Monday exchanged barbs over conducting an inquiry into the breaches in Tori and M.S bunds by the standing committee on irrigation.
Calls for serious government's efforts for the safe homecoming of Dr Aafia Siddqui also came form the MQM members with Bilquees Mukhtar taking the floor on a point of order to condemn the American 'judicial atrocity' against the innocent scientist.
Another important statement that hit the floor of the house on Monday came from Irrigation and Power Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo, saying it was the federal and not provincial government who are responsible for undertaking rescue works during natural calamities like floods.
"Because the federal government collects the funds," the minister reasoned his statement during his 'ill-attended' presentation tto the house on "Floods 2010" Despite reiterating importance of the post-floods session the lawmakers from two political divides of the house could not develop interest in the discussion on the floods' losses.
The level of lawmakers' seriousness towards the issue could well be surmised from the fact that at 2:25pm only 72 legislators were present in the 168-member house. While the ANP members, Amir Nawab Khan and Amanullah Mehsood, continued their boycott of the Assembly session, only 11 of the MQM legislators attended the sitting with some 40 others staying aloof from the Assembly on Monday.
As soon as Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro called the house to order with a three-hour delay at 11:55am a noisy pandemonium hit the house with the treasury and opposition warning each other against politicising the humanitarian issue of floods that the two sides acknowledged had played havoc with the socio-economic condition of the province.
Law Minister Ayaz Soomro backed by other treasury members remained engaged in a soft-worded argument with the opposition leader for at least half an hour with the latter smelling a rat. "Please, don't bulldoze our well-thought-out resolution that suits well the interest of the people of Sindh," Jam Madad said.
Opposition members form PML-F and PML-Q stretched their political muscles together after their recent reunion and walked out of the house when the chair did not allow Jam Madad to table his resolution. The bone of contention, however, seemed to be the opposition's demand in the resolution for launching a probe into the breaches allegedly made by the influential people to avoid the flooding of their farmland.
"This house resolves and recommends to government of Sindh that due to the prevailing controversy with regard to the breaches at Tori Bund and MS Bund at Kot Alam District Thatta, an inquiry be conducted by the Standing Committee on Irrigation to verify the facts regarding the breach," reads the resolution made available to the media by the opposition during a press conference outside the Assembly.
As the debate heated the opposition leader said he had no problem if the law minister wanted to take credit of bringing the floods issue to the house first with the latter rejecting the claim contending that a general discussion and presentation on floods would certainly address causes of the breaches.
The opposition, however, boycotted and left the hose when the speaker also put his weight behind the law minister. Later, a delegation led by Agha Siraj Durrani brought the opposition members back to the house when most part of the irrigation minister's presentation on floods had gone.
The house also adopted clause-by-clause the Sindh Public Property (Removal of Encroachment) Bill, 2010 unanimously in the absence of opposition parties. According to Leader of the House Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, the said law would play as 'deterrent' against encroachment of the costly public land.
Whereas the National People's Party (NPP) had not joined the boycott, its outspoken leader Arif Mustafa Jatoi made the treasury accountable for committing a "serious constitutional" mistake by not lying before the house the Fifth Amendment Ordinance on local government under Article 128 of the Constitution. As the debate intensified, the law minister had to request the deferment of the introduction of Sindh Local Government (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2010 till today, Tuesday.
Later, Irrigation and Power Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo briefing the house on floods 2010 raised the eyebrows by saying that the federal and not provincial government was responsible for rescuing the people during the floods. Dharejo also left many scratching their heads by saying that it was a miracle that only three breaches had occurred in Gudu and Kotri barrages as, he said, more breaches could bring more destruction than the present one.
Earlier, MQM's Bilquees Mukhtar condemned the recent 86-year jail term handed down to Dr Aaifa Siddqui by a US court, demanding of Washington and Islamabad to take serious measures for her release. Interestingly, none of the lawmakers from PPP, PML-Q, PML-F and NPP raised voice against the US court's verdict.
Earlier, the speaker administered oath to MQM lawmaker Rasheed Khan Bhai who filled the minority seat of fake-degree holder, Stephen Asif Peter. The house also held discussion on the flood situation that would continue on a Private Members' Day on Tuesday. Speaking on the issue opposition member Muhammad Ali Malkani held the irrigation department responsible for the breaches in embankments that he said had left thousands of people homeless.
He alleged that the government cared for saving money more than using its available machinery like dumpers, loaders etc to reduce the level of damages. MQM's Naheed Begum said the government must allay the reservations of Sukkuriites over the reasons for which the Aliwa bund was not breached. Dr Sikandar Mandhro and Dr Ali Muhammad Shah also spoke on the issue.