Tag: sindh assembly

  • Karachi police manhandled 28 protesters for Baloch missing students, major outrage

    Karachi police manhandled 28 protesters for Baloch missing students, major outrage

    Karachi police on Monday manhandled and detained 28 protesters, including females, who were demonstrating near the main gate of the Sindh Assembly against the ‘missing’ Baloch students of the University of Karachi (KU).

    Doda Baloch and Ghamshad Baloch —two students of KU — were allegedly taken away from their home near Maskan Chowrangi in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on June 7 and their whereabouts are unknown since then.

    Earlier in the day, Shayhaq Ellahi and HudaHair Ellahi, siblings of Doda, had tweeted that their brother and his friend had been “safely released”. Shayhaq also posted photographs of the pair, reports Dawn.

    https://twitter.com/HudaHair_Ellahi/status/1536492066187902983?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1536492066187902983%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1694772
    Protest outside Sindh Assembly

    Relatives of the missing Baloch students and members of civil society organisations had set up a camp outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) for the last four days. On Sunday night, they reached the Sindh Assembly’s main gate.

    Videos of the police can be seen where the protesters are being dragged and manhandled by the Sindh police.

    South-Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Asad Raza while speaking with Dawn said that the police detained 19 men and nine women as they tried to enter the assembly building on Monday. The officer denied that protesters were treated roughly. He added that female police officers had detained female protesters.

    The protest organisers accused the police of manhandling women and children. They said the Sindh police had retracted their promise of arranging a meeting of the missing students’ relatives with Counter Terrorism Department officials on Monday. Therefore, they said, they again staged a sit-in near the Sindh Assembly building where the police manhandled and arrested protesters.

    Twitterati reacted to the barbarism of the police.

  • Hundreds of PTM workers stage sit-in for release of Ali Wazir

    Hundreds of PTM workers stage sit-in for release of Ali Wazir

    Hundreds of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) workers staged a sit-in outside of Sindh Assembly to demand the release of their leader and Member of National Assembly (MNA) Ali Wazir, reports Dawn News.

    Initially, Deputy Commissioner (DC)-South Irshad Ali Sodhar and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP)-South Rai Ijaz Ahmed tried to prevent the group from marching but eventually allowed the rally to proceed towards the assembly building where it was turned into a sit-in.

    PTM founder and head Manzoor Pashteen said, “The government calls itself a democratic one but we are not being allowed to exercise our democratic rights.”

    Pashteen said that the protest and sit-in would continue till the release of Wazir.

    PTM leader Hidayatullah criticised the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for arresting PTM leaders in false cases. He argued when Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leaders and workers have been released, why are PTM leaders including MNA Wazir are not being released.

    MNA Wazir and MNA Mohsin Dawar, as well as Pashteen, have been booked for committing sedition by inciting the people to wage a war against the state by delivering provocative speeches against security forces at a rally held in Sohrab Goth on December 6, 2020.

  • Sindh revives student unions after three decades

    Sindh revives student unions after three decades

    The Sindh Assembly on Friday unanimously passed the Sindh Students Union Bill 2019 to revive student unions. According to the bill, a student union will be formed in every private and government educational institute.

    Students will be able to vote for or participate in the student union, according to the bill. The bill defines the student union as “a body or association of students of any educational institution by whatever name called for promoting the general interests of its members as students for academic, disciplinary, extra-curricular or other matters related to the affairs of the students in the educational institutions”.

    As per the bill, students would be able to form a union with seven to 11 student members through elections every year. The union will have representation in the institute’s syndicate, senate, and anti-harassment committee.

    The bill states that no student will be allowed to use or keep firearms on campus. The bill states that educational institutes will decide the rules and regulations related to the union two months after the bill is passed.

    During General Ziaul Haq’s military government, student unions were banned throughout the country in 1984.

  • NAB arrests Speaker Sindh Assembly after Supreme Court rejects bail

    Speaker of Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani has been arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in front of the Supreme Court (SC) after his bail hearing, reports Geo Urdu.

    Durrani was arrested for allegedly accumulating assets worth Rs1.6 billion through illegal means.

    He approached the SC after Sindh High Court (SHC) rejected his bail in assets beyond means case.

    Earlier today, it was reported that the apex court ordered him to surrender before NAB.

    During Durrani’s hearing, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah observed that the SHC rejected Durrani’s bail plea on the basis of merit.

    “Supreme Court cannot conduct a hearing on this plea without the high court’s verdict,” he said.

    SC ordered Durrani to turn himself in, saying: “First comply with the SHC’s order and surrender before NAB and then the court will conduct a hearing on this case next week.”

    The apex court also rejected Durrani’s request to restrict NAB officials from arresting him from the courtroom.

    Justice Bandial, who was heading the hearing, directed Durrani to first surrender before NAB.

    “We had given you concession earlier as well. There is a high court order against you. We will not interfere in NAB’s matter,” the judge stated.

  • Sindh Assembly: PTI lawmakers bring charpoy to mark ‘funeral of democracy’

    Sindh Assembly: PTI lawmakers bring charpoy to mark ‘funeral of democracy’

    There was a ruckus in the Sindh Assembly when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members disrupted the ongoing session after opposition leader, Haleem Adil Sheikh, was denied permission to address the assembly.

    Haleem Adil Sheikh requested to speak first but Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani denied him permission, saying the scheduled business would be carried out first and members would be allowed to speak on their points of order later, reports Dawn.

    This caused the Opposition members to protest against the Speaker. Amid the sloganeering, some of the protesting members brought a folding charpoy into the House, marking ‘funeral of democracy’ in the Sindh Assembly.

    “Jamhooriyat ka janaaza hai, zara dhoom se nikle” (It is the funeral of democracy, should be taken out with fanfare).

    Speaker Siraj Durrani said this was an insult to the House.

  • Bill to make marriage of 18-year-olds mandatory will be ‘bulldozed’ by PPP, says Bakhtawar

    Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari has said that the Sindh compulsory marriage act, 2021 will be bulldozed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and that the bill has nothing to do with the Sindh Government.

    “[The bill has] nothing to do with Sindh Government but will be bulldozed by PPP,” wrote Bakhtawar in a tweet.

    In a sperate tweet, Bakhtawar clarified that the bill has been proposed by an MPA from Jamat-e-Islami (JI).

    The proposed bill seeks to make it mandatory for parents to marry off their children as soon as they turn 18. The proposed bill also states that parents who do not have any justified reason for the delay in the marriage of an adult will be fined.

    However, the bill is unlikely to be passed but the proposed bill got a massive reaction from social media with most people criticising it.

  • VIDEO: PTI members wrestle each other in Sindh Assembly

    VIDEO: PTI members wrestle each other in Sindh Assembly

    Just a day before the Senate Elections, lawmakers from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) decided to wrestle each other in the Sindh Assembly creating havoc.

    As per details, PTI’s disgruntled MPAs – Aslam Abro, Shehryar Shar and Karim Bakhsh Gabol – were beaten up by their own party members during a session of the Sindh Assembly.

    The three MPAs had earlier said that they will not vote for PTI candidates in the Senate polls. The fighting match that ensued can be seen in the tweets shared by journalists Murtaza Ali Shah and Gharidah Farooqi.

    https://twitter.com/MurtazaViews/status/1366702520467415042

    Later, a video of PPP MPA Sharmila Faruqi running out of the assembly emerged and the lawmaker clarified that she was running to get security.

    When asked about this incident by journalists outside the Sindh Assembly, PTI’s Haleem Adil Sheikh started shouting at them.

    He said that he is very sad that today, some senior journalists are posing as PPP workers and also called them lifafa sahaafi (journalists who take money). He also raised slogans against journalists.

    Responding to Sheikh’s comments, senior journalist Asma Shirazi asked why is it that whenever tough questions are asked, PTI members resort to attacks on journalists.

  • VIDEO: PTI, PPP lawmakers quarrel in Sindh Assembly

    VIDEO: PTI, PPP lawmakers quarrel in Sindh Assembly

    The session of the Sindh Assembly witnessed a heated spat between the lawmakers after a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA said that there was a “dog rule” in the province.

    Khurram Sher Zaman made these remarks in reference to the death of a two-year-old girl in Jamshoro, CM Murad Ali Shah’s constituency, who passed away due to the unavailability of the anti-rabies vaccine in the province. “It looks as if nowadays the dog rules in Sindh,” the PTI leader said, requesting the speaker to recite a prayer for a two-year-old girl.

    At this, PPP lawmaker Mukesh Kumar asked him to mind his language. This was the start of a spat between the lawmakers that later blew out of proportion.

    Speaker Durrani said that this was no manner to behave in the house. “Please go and fight outside the house if you are interested in violence”, he added and warning that the session would be adjourned if the MPAs failed to behave.

    “Please ask Chawla, who is at the helm of the excise and taxation ministry, to close the illegal wine shops in the province,” said Zaman. This once again created another uproar in the assembly. Chawla retorted: “You should stop the supply of tainted food in your restaurant.”

    On Thursday, the session was marred by uproar and chaos as members of both the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf exchanged heated arguments and chanted slogans against each other.

  • Militants arrested by CTD ‘planned to bomb Sindh Assembly, kill lawmakers’

    Militants arrested by CTD ‘planned to bomb Sindh Assembly, kill lawmakers’

    The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has foiled a potential suicide attack on Sindh Assembly by arresting five militants who were allegedly planning to bomb the building and target the provincial lawmakers.

    On Sunday, the CTD had arrested five militants and shot dead another after an alleged encounter that lasted for more than an hour in Shah Latif Town, Karachi.

    According to Geo, the militants were planning to launch a major terror attack in the port city, as rickshaw parked in front of the gate of the building had explosives in its hidden compartments.

    The news report quoting anonymous officials said that the authorities obtained data from the mobile phone of one of the militants who was arrested by the CTD. It alleged that one of the militants was in touch with “handlers from Afghanistan”. It further claimed that three militants belonged to Kandahar while one was from Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

    The CTD officials also found a video clip of the Sindh Assembly in one of the mobile phones and assumed that the clip must have been shot as a part of their plan to target the building, it claimed. The recce was conducted recently, the report said, adding that militant failed to target the building the same day because the assembly wasn’t in session.

    The report further said that one of the militants was a ‘would-be suicide bomber’ as he had planned to blow himself up at the gate of the Sindh Assembly. After the bombing, the other militants would have entered the building with automatic weapons to do the maximum damage.