PPP members of the Sindh Assembly harshly criticized the leadership of the PML-F on Tuesday, amid a noisy protest by the opposition party, with the microphones turned off. Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza denied the opposition party's legislators the chance to express their views in reply to the harsh criticism by the PPP members. The chair widely ignored the uncalled-for criticism by PPP legislators against the PML-F's leaders, Pir Pagara, and ruled that improper remarks should be expunged.
The noisy protest that started with the treasury members' speeches felicitating Jam Madad Ali Khan, the former PML-F leader who got elected on a PPP ticket in a recent by-election, continued till the adjournment of the session until Friday. PML-F MPA Nusrat Sehar Abbasi attempted to reply to the criticism but the chair denied her the chance.
Deputy speaker Shehla Raza gave the floor only to members of her own party. PML-F parliamentary leader Nand Kumar walked out after prolonged criticism of his party's chief. The deputy speaker presided over the questions and answers session before adjourning the house.
The PPP's Manzoor Wasan congratulated Jam Madad Ali on his wining his seat on the PPP ticket and hinted at the possibility another PML-F legislator joining the treasury soon. "Let me tell you that the PML-F is soon losing its reserved seat," he told the house. Nusrat Sehar Abbasi continued to shout "rigging, rigging" while her microphone was switched off.
Wasan criticized the opposition for continually winning the same electoral seat through rigging elections during the tenures of Zia-ul-Haq, Jam Sadiq and Nawaz Sharif and Pervez Musharraf. "Now that is a bygone era," he said, adding that his party will win the next polls across Sanghar. He said that the area had been a stronghold of the PPP but the military dictators snatched it by force.
Another lawmaker from the treasury, Taimur Talpur, said that the Functional League should now tag itself as "non-functional league." Talpur taunted the PML-F to be "ashamed" of its political character. He said that the PML-F will lose some of its reserved seats with diminishing numbers in the house.
With the victory of Jam Madad Ali in Sanghar proved that the PPP is a party which represented all four provinces of the country, PPP legislator Fayyaz Butt said while congratulating Jam Madad Ali. The MQM's Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan pointed to the unbalanced proceedings of the house, but the deputy speaker responded that the opposition will be provided an opportunity once the felicitation speeches conclude.
The PTI's Samar Ali Khan said that the speeches reflected PPP legislators' lack of seriousness about the assembly. "Winning or losing is part of politics an attack on anyone's personality is a shameful act," he said. When he accused the deputy speaker of conducting the session in an inappropriate way, Shehla Raza retorted that she held the proceedings in line with the rules and regulations of the assembly.