News
Saturday, September 08, 2012
Allies in Senate slam govt over Sindh LG ordinance* ANP senators boycott parliamentary sessions
* PML-F senators say they were not taken into confidence
By Ijaz Kakakhel
ISLAMABAD: Senators belonging to the ruling Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) allied parties on Friday criticised the government and protested against the promulgation of the local government ordinance for Sindh.
Awami National Party (ANP) legislators boycotted parliamentary sessions of the Upper House in protest against the Sindh People’s Local Government Ordinance (SPLGO), saying they would boycott the Upper House until the government withdrew the ordinance.
ANP leader Senator Haji Adeel said allies were not taken into confidence on the ordinance and that the ANP’s minister in the provincial cabinet would resign. The ANP top management had in principle decided that if the ordinance was not withdrawn, the party would go one step further in the near future.
He said they were the ally of the PPP in Sindh and the federation, but that they were not taken into confidence about the ordinance. He said the ordinance had been issued for pleasing one party only, adding, “We do not accept the decision taken overnight.” It was astonishing that all four provinces had rejected former president General Musharaf’s government system but the PPP, in its midnight meeting with a party, had decided to re-introduce it through an ordinance, he said.
The parliamentary leader of the ANP questioned why the PPP was making sacrifices of its own members like Sardar Nabil Ahmed Gabol, Raza Abdi, Zulfiqar Mirza and Abdul Qadir Patel to please a particular political party. Other allies like PML-F were also not taken into confidence as mentioned by Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah, he said.
If the government was interested in presenting the new local bodies system in some parts of Sindh, then it would be better to present through a bill and all the legislators would debate over it, he said. Presenting the ordinance through midnight-meetings showed that some conspiracy against democracy, particularly in Sindh, was being hatched, the senator said. Several political parties in Sindh and some PPP legislators also opposed the ordinance but they were unable to come forward, he added.
Haji Adeel vowed that the boycott of both the Houses (Senate and National Assembly) of parliament would continue until the withdrawal of the ordinance and added that a future strategy would be announced later.
Anther ANP senator, Abdul Nabi Bangash, speaking on the occasion said they were kept in darkness over the ordinance. It was injustice to give special treatment to Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpur Khas, Sukkhar and Larkana, he said. He claimed that behind the scenes, there was a conspiracy to divide Sindh and vowed that ANP would support the nationalist parties in the province. He regretted that the PPP was involved “in the conspiracy”.
ANP Senator Shahi Syed said that this was not the war of ANP and MQM, rather it was the issue of the people in the province. Terming the ordinance a black law, Shahi Syed asked what the purpose of the ordinance was when elections of local bodies were not being held in one or two months. He said issuing the ordinance was practice of autocrats and that it was not justified in any way from a democratic government.
PML-F Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah said presenting a law through an ordinance was against democratic norms. Being an allied party with provincial government of Sindh, we were also kept in dark, he said. Introduction of the ordinance would increase division in Sindh, he said, adding that his party totally opposed the ordinance.
He regretted that the government was not serious about the problems of the province.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk