KARACHI: Provincial legislators here on Tuesday voted to pass a resolution seeking a five-year completion term for the Sindh Assembly but the PTI demanded fresh polls for Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa within 90 days as the Constitution specifies.
Adjourning the daily agenda of the assembly, the house instead permitted Nawabzada Burhan Khan Chandio of the ruling PPP to table his resolution on seeking a full term completion for this legislature. The resolution, he read out said: the Sindh Assembly is performing its constitutional duty at its best, raising voice on all issues of the public importance effectively. The legislature also helped guide the Sindh government for solving such issues in an effectual manner.
Therefore, it is imperative that this assembly should complete its five-year Constitutional term. On its term completion, a caretaker rule should be set up as per the Constitution.
The mover said that the general elections should take place on time and sought a full term completion for the assembly. He claimed that the provincial legislature performed its role at its best to serve the public.
Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah asserted that the assembly, which “performed as per the public expectations,” will complete its Constitutional term.
He claimed that his will seek an option from the house before dissolving it. This assembly passed fiscal budgets on a yearly basis and adopted resolutions on issues of the public importance.
Citing article 107 of the Constitution, he said that the assemblies are formed for five-year period, but article 117 allows the Chief Minister to dissolve the assembly. In the public interest, he said he will dissolve the assembly when he feels so.
Firdous Shamim Naqvi of the PTI said that holding back polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab within 90s is a violation of the Constitution. Dissolution of both assemblies took place as the Constitution, he said.
He questioned the intentions behind the resolution, saying that what threatens the Sindh Assembly from completing its term. “You don’t need to dictate others. Constitution is supreme and it says polls should be held in 90 days,” he said.
MMA’s Syed Abdul Rasheed said that polls should be held at one time in the country. He said that the country’s judiciary is faced with a crisis and called the Election Commission “puppet”. He sought the enforcement of article 62 in the country. GDA’s Shaharyar Khan Mahar lent his party’s support to the resolution but questioned the PPP’s ‘pick and choose’ policy on the Constitution as it adopts what suits its interest and rejects the rest.
He asked the ruling PPP that what holds it back from following an article that states the assembly can be dissolved. “We are becoming a joke in the public,” he said.
MQM’s parliamentary leader, Rana Ansar also supported the resolution and stressed for a single-day polls in the country. The house was adjourned till Friday.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023