Newly-elected lawmakers of Sindh Assembly take oath
Durrani says the voting to elect new speaker and deputy speaker of the Sindh Assembly will be held today; GDA, JI, JUI-F and Pti-backed independent candidates boycot proceedings
As many as 163 newly-elected members of the 16th Sindh Assembly took oath on Saturday amid no show-up by the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Jamaat-e-islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulemae-islam Fazl (JUI-F) lawmakers.
The session, set to commence at 11am, faced a delay of 40 minutes.
Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani chaired the inaugural session of the provincial assembly and later administered oath to the members. The lawmakers took oath in three languages — Urdu, Sindhi and English.
During the session, Durrani warned people present in the assembly to not shout as PPP workers and supporters chanted slogans.
There were earlier reports that 151 Mpaselect will be sworn in but 163 members were administered oath by the speaker with four others could not be administered oath for different reasons.
Durrani also announced that the voting to elect new speaker and deputy speaker of the Sindh Assembly will be held on Sunday.
There was a commotion in the gallery during the oath-taking. The speaker warned that trouble-makers will be expelled from the gallery, saying “You can go to courts for relief. The whole of Sindh has extended support to the PPP and you must keep on trying if you are rejected by the masses.”
Newly-elected members belonging to GDA, Pti-backed independents, JI and JUI-F stayed away from the oath-taking session.
JUI-F workers reportedly staged a protest at Karachi’s Toll Plaza ater they were not allowed to enter the megacity. JUI-F Sindh Secretary General Allama Rashid Mahmood Soomro led the protest, saying the party workers wanted to stage a protest outside the provincial assembly. The protest has disrupted traffic flow on Karachi-hyderabad Motorway.
The police also resorted to baton-charge the protesters outside the assembly, arresting a number of activists including women.
Meanwhile, JUI-F workers staged a sit-in at Karsaz ater they were not allowed to go to the Sindh Assembly to stage a protest.
As per the ECP’S results, PPP won the most provincial assembly seats (84) followed by MQM-P (28), while independent candidates bagged 14, GDA two, and JI two seats in the Feb.8 general elections in Sindh.
Additionally, the PPP got 26 reserved seats for women and minorities, with the MQM-P being allocated eight reserved seats as per their strength in the assembly.
The Sindh Home Department has imposed section-144 in Karachi’s red zone for one month. The caretaker Sindh home minister has declared processions and strikes as prohibited under section-144.
Any violation of the law will be dealt with firmly, according to the minister, who deployed police force in the red zone to ensure compliance.
Police arrested a number of people taking part in a protest outside the Sindh Assembly building and shited them to a nearby police station. The police were heavily deployed outside the Sindh Assembly keeping in view the protest.
Due to the protest and heavy presence of police the traffic on major arteries in the megacity was thrown into a chaos. Key roads including Shahra-e-faisal were jampacked with vehicles stranded for hours.
Talking to media ater PPP’S parliamentary party meeting in Karachi on Friday, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhuto Zardari said Syed Murad Ali Shah would be PPP’S candidate for Sindh chief minister slot. He said Syed Awais Qadir Shah and Anthony Naveed would be PPP’S candidates for Sindh Assembly speaker and deputy speaker offices, respectively.
Syed Awais Shah was elected MPA from Sukkur and Naveed Anthony was elected on a reserved seat for minorities.
The 61-year-old graduate of NED University of Engineering and Technology, Syed Murad Ali Shah would assume the CM office for the second consecutive term.
In July 2016, the PPP leadership had brought him to replace Syed Qaim Ali Shah as chief minister in the middle of the five-year term. He then continued to serve as chief minister for the full 2018-23 term.