Sindh Assembly on Thursday passed a unanimous resolution urging the provincial government to establish a Sindhology Institute in Karachi to promote the province's culture. Besides, the house also unanimously passed a resolution to form a special committee comprising female members of the assembly to study the causes behind domestic violence against women.
On Thursday, the house dealt with the private bills and resolutions of the members as it was unable to hold Tuesday as private member day this week. MQM continued to boycott the Sindh Assembly proceedings in protest against Zulfiqar Mirza's last week comments about the Peoples Peace Committee.
In the absence of Speaker Nisar Khohro at early part of the session, Deputy Speaker Shela Raza conducted the proceedings. However, later Nisar Khohro joined the session. The demand for setting up of Sindhology Institute was moved through a resolution by PPP MPA, Anwar Ahmad Khan Maher, which the house supported with an overwhelming vote.
Anwar Maher said Jamshoro already had a Sindhology Institute and urged the government to establish such an institution in Karachi to promote the culture and values of Sindh. He said that the institute would play an important role to bridge the fast widening gap between the urban and rural values and culture of the province. Anwar Maher said the proposed institute should be built on global standards.
Shazia Mari supported the resolution saying that Karachi is a city of heterogeneous people and the original Sindhi culture should be promoted here. She strongly rejected the impression about Karachi's separate political and cultural identity from Sindh. She criticised the phrases like interior Sindh, Karachi and Sindh, saying such an attitude was negative and against the integration of the province.
Mari said the world was contemplating on how to protect the ailing native languages and studying to revive them. Muhammad Rafiq Advocate stressed the need of preserving the tombs of Sindh's heroes, saying many of them were in dilapidated conditions and the government should revive them before it was too late. He also called upon the media to use a single word "Sindh" for the province instead of "Sindh and Karachi".
He lamented that Sindhi language schools were either completely closed down in Karachi or their numbers had been reduced, which was against the province's identity. Dr Sikandar Mandhro said the Sindhology Institute would help revive the Sindh's culture. Makhdoom Jamil-u-zaman supported the resolution and said the partial records of Sindh Assembly before the sub-continent's partition were lying in Lahore and Mumbai, which should be brought to Karachi.
Marvi Rashdi criticised the Sindhi elite class for shying away from speaking their mother tongue, and urged them to stick to their culture and language. Another resolution was presented by Sardar Jam Tamachi Unar urging the federal government to mark 2014 as 'Child Free Year' - a move towards birth control for at least one year. But, he later dropped it from the legislation list of the house after Law Minister Ayaz Soomro and Shazia Mari termed it legally incorrect and vague.
Tamachi said he would not withdraw the resolution but would again table it in the next private day session after getting it corrected by standing committee for law of Sindh Assembly. Meanwhile Speaker Nisar Khohro joined the session and asked the movers of the two resolutions to present them in next the session as time for assembly proceedings had almost been over.
A private bill by Humera Alwani came up for consideration in the house seeking elimination of copy culture and cheating in exams but after debate the mover withdrew it through a resolution, which the house unanimously passed. While a private bill seeking the house's consideration for legislation to control mainpuri and gutka was referred to the concerned standing committee of Sindh Assembly. Ayaz Soomro said a law already exists to ban the unhealthy products, which only needs strict implementation. Speaker adjourned the house till Friday morning.