Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a private bill of Ittehad University 2017 and five resolutions while Malir Development Authority Amendment Bill was rejected.

The assembly session started at around 11:30am with Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza in the chair.

The House declared Tuesday as a private member’s day. Five private resolutions were passed unanimously by the House.

The private bill of Ittehad University 2017 was introduced by PPP lawmaker Ghazala Sial.

Another private bill Malir Development Authority Amendment tabled by MQM lawmaker Nadeem Razi in the House while PPP leader Nisar Ahmed Khuhro opposed the bill. Shehla Raza tabled the Malir Development Authority Amendment bill that was later rejected by a majority of lawmakers.

During another resolution moved by MQM lawmaker Naheed Begum regarding census in the province.

Khuhro said census will be started on March 15, adding that every political party has the responsibility to make it successful.

Khuhro said Sindh as a province was always victimised in the national census. Last census was conducted in 1998, although it should be carried out regularly after every 10 years.

“This time the census will be conducted on the Supreme Court of Pakistan orders that bound the federal government and if it (Federal Government) will not carryout census it will violates and become the contempt of court’s orders.

In the first phase of census, six districts of Karachi, Hyderabad and Ghotki will be included, but household unit count will be carried out first with the help of staff and army personnel,” Khuhro informed the House. Interestingly, the federal government has reserved only three days for household unit survey.

“A boat or flat or shanty or a house will be considered as a household unit as per its definition,” he pointed out.

At the time of census, CNIC is mandatory. Only 10 days will be given to carry out the entire process.

“About 20 to 30 percent population did not have CNICs so how could we give success to the process of census,” Khuhro informed.

“During the last 20 years, the Sindh government lacked authentic population data so that we can demand from federal government of our share in National Finance Commission (NFC) accordingly.”

Pakistan Muslim League lawmaker Nusrat Sehar Abbasi said, “This is unfortunate that every positive work has been carried out on the directives of the Supreme Court. We salute the Supreme Court for this directive.” PPP lawmaker Khairunnisa Mughal said, “Census is important for Sindh and public awareness campaign will not be restricted to women alone.” MQM lawmaker Faisal Sabzwari said this is the basic right of every citizen to be counted in the census. “Karachi has never been counted rightly in census. We expect from army and staff for transparently complete the process of census.”

After a detailed discussion, the House passed the resolution unanimously. Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah informed the House that the provincial government was working to curb the illegal arms. The Apex Committee in its meeting on January 2 has taken some important decisions in this regard.

The law enforcers have seized 900 illegal weapons, of these 750 were manufactured in Dara Adam Khel, he added.

The CM said further, “In this connection, we have written a letter to the federal interior ministry to stop manufacturing of illegal arms factories in Dara Adam Khel of KPK. We want to stop the arrival of illegal arms under any condition because these weapons used in killing of innocent people.” “The arms manufactured in Dara Adam Khel should only be made for the purpose of security forces demands only and it should not make available for common people,” he added. Murad lauded the MQM lawmaker for moving the resolution against illegal arms.

Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Khurram Sher Zaman opposed the resolution and said that everyone in the House knows which political party possesses weapons. The unit and sector offices of which political party have been raided by law enforcers and seized weapons. Later, the House passed the resolution unanimously.