Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Wednesday turned into a fish market after PPP lawmaker Manzoor Wassan accused the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-F) of unlawful allotment of 36,000 acres of land in Khairpur. The assembly session started at around 11am with Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza in the chair. The House passed a unanimous resolution in which all standing committees were bound to give their feedback within two weeks time.

The house also sent Sindh Zakat and Usher (Amendment) Bill 2016 to the standing committee for further review.

PPP lawmaker Manzoor Wassan said that when he was holding the portfolio of anti-corruption he called attention to massive land allotment in Khairpur.

Soon after his remarks the PML-F lawmakers started shouting. In the midst of the uproar, the deputy speaker allowed the PPP lawmaker to complete his answer during the question hour. PML-F lawmaker Nusrat Sehar Abbasi termed the Anti-Corruption Department as “aunty corruption”. When she dragged her question, Shehla restrained her from commenting further.

The deputy speaker then advised the PML-F lawmaker to “take medicine regularly and shake well before using the medicine”. After this comment, the PML-F lawmakers created a racket again.

Senior Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro asked the deputy speaker to maintain discipline in the House. Later, Nusrat exchanged hot words with Khuhro saying, “I am not satisfied with the answers of provincial minister Manzoor Wassan and I am exposing the provincial government’s corruption.” She added that the performance of Anti-Corruption Department is ineffective and useless. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker Sorath Thebo, while quoting a report of Anti-Corruption Department, said that no corruption was found in Mirpur Khas and Benazirabad.

“Do angels live in these two districts?” she asked. “We have heard that the ‘king of corruption’ lives in Benazirabad.”

The House was informed that 776 corruption cases were registered during 2009 to 2013, in which 227 people were arrested and Rs 836,630 were seized.

MPA Dilawar Qureshi said the House was informed about the anti-corruption drive in the province but it seems that only nine districts of Sindh were affected by corruption and the rest of the districts were corruption-free. The deputy speaker postponed the session until Thursday (today).