Sindh Assembly flays Supreme Court decision

The provincial legislators belonging to the ruling Pakistan People's Party came hard on the judiciary and the Pakistan Muslim League-N on Friday while expressing their anger over the Supreme Court order that former Justice Deedar Hussain Shah must be removed from the post of Chairman, National Accountability Bureau.
Wearing black arm bands, emotionally-charged MPA, were highly critical of what they termed "judicial excesses" against Sindh and its political leadership A unanimous resolution adopted in the House slammed leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, for filing a petition against the appointment of Deedar Hussain Shah and held him responsible for creating a rift among the provinces and damaging the democratic process.
Earlier the Speaker, Nisar Khohro, waited for an hour for the PPP members to arrive in the house while the coalition partners ANP and MQM stayed away from the session. The tiny opposition acted like a silent spectator during the house proceedings as the judiciary came under severe verbal attacks with PPP members criticising courts for their alleged role against the Sindh province. PPP legislators including Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah, Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza were prominent wearing black arm bands as they entered the house. Male members were also wearing Sindhi caps while female members were seen clad in traditional Ajrak (Sindhi shawl).
Nisar Khohro expressed his anger over the late arrival of ruling party members and asked Sindh Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ayaz Soomro to ensure compliance of the Assembly's code of conduct to begin the session on time. Anger was visible from the PPP members' body language waiting to bring in a resolution to criticise PML-N for its petition against the appointment of Deedar Hussain Shah as chairman NAB.
However, Nisar Khohro seemed upset, apparently taken aback by the PPP members' unknown motives as he was not informed about the party's agenda chalked out for the Friday's session. Immediately after the questions and answers session was over Sharjeel Memon rose and requested the speaker to allow him to present a resolution. As Nisar Khohro allowed him to read the resolution, Shazia Mari and other lady members stood up and said they wanted to table their own resolution too.
However, after the intervention of the Speaker, a joint resolution was tabled. Muhammad Rafiq of PPP introduced an amendment in the resolution, paying tribute to former Justice Deedar Hussain Shah for his services as Chief Justice of Sindh High Court and judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan. The house passed the resolution unanimously.
Speaking on the resolution, Sharjeel Memon said the removal order of Deedar Shah was another attack on Sindh province. He said Chaudhry Nisar's petition was based on "bad intention" against Sindhis. He asked for defining the role of institutions and said a clear-line should be drawn to separate the role of each of the state organs.
Slamming the judiciary, he said Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had been hanged by courts, but PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif had been spared and sent abroad. He alleged that the courts had always denied justice to PPP leadership and Sindh's people and always favoured Nawaz Sharif. He alleged PML-N for attack on Supreme Court of Pakistan and dishonouring former Justice Sajjad Ali Shah who also belonged to Sindh.
Sharjeel Memon said the courts had a long list of pending cases which should be disposed of without delay and criticised the judiciary for taking up cases filed against the ruling PPP. He said Nawaz Sharif had been full of praise for former Justice Deedar Hussain Shah when he was languishing in Landhi jail. But, he said, what had happened to Nawaz Sharif, when the same Deedar Hussain Shah was been appointed as NAB chief.
Sounding a warning, Sharjeel Memon said, "enough is enough," no more accesses would be accepted against Sindh and threatened that PPP would retaliate if the province was subjected to any injustices. The provincial legislator said he would ask his children to take domicile of other provinces as Sindh had always been dealt with discrimination and prejudice.
Muhammad Rafiq Advocate said debate on courts' ruling was legal. He said the law should be transparent otherwise people would cry for lack of justice. He said judges verdicts could be discussed as they were not holy scriptures. Earlier, the house observed a two-minute silence to pay homage to the slain federal minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti. The Speaker adjourned the session till Monday morning. A protest walk made from Sindh Assembly building to Sindh High Court where the PPP legislators staged a sit in against the SC decision to remove Deedar Hussain as NAB head.