PA session adjourned following MPA’s death

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly session here on Sunday was cut short and adjourned until Monday morning following the death of Pakistan Peoples Party’s legislator Naeem Ahmed Kharal. Before dispersing, the house unanimously passed a resolution paying tribute to slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on her birthday, hailing her as the first woman prime minister of the Muslim world. The session was presided over by Panel of Chairman member Reehana Laghari. It opened with a Fatiha recitation for Benazir Bhutto and other deceased members. Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presented the resolution honoring Benazir Bhutto, saying she had played a pivotal role in Pakistani politics after her father’s judicial execution. He said she struggled for the restoration of democracy, federal stability, women’s empowerment, national development, and social justice before being assassinated in 2007. The house adopted the resolution without dissent. Sunday marked the third day of general debate on the provincial budget for the next fiscal year, in which only seven members could participate. Mumtaz Chandio of the ruling PPP said all development in Sindh had taken place under his party’s governments, yet the opposition refused to acknowledge it. He called Karachi the heart of Sindh and said patients from across the country came to Sindh’s hospitals for treatment. He demanded that the NICVD facility be extended to Naushahro Feroze this year, and that the Naushahro Feroze campus be granted university status. PPP’s lawmaker, Qasim Siraj Soomro claimed the government was focusing on social security and social protection. He said Tharparkar, though historically underdeveloped, had entered a new era of progress due to Thar coal, which now generated 3, 500 megawatts of electricity for the national grid. Arif Khan Mahar, the PPP legislator, said groundwater in Sindh was deteriorating. He thanked Sharjeel Inam Memon for launching the Shakarpur-Sukkur Peoples Bus Service. PPP’s Syed Farrukh Shah said Pakistan had emerged as a united nation against India. He criticized the opposition for not listening to the budget speech and said it was regrettable that some lawmakers resorted to sloganeering instead of serious debate. PPP MPA Burhan Khan Chandio said the provincial government had spent Rs 7 billion on road construction but water shortages persisted. He said irrigation authorities had cleaned canals but water theft remained a serious problem — not only by Punjab at the upper level, but also at the local level. He demanded NICVD facilities for Qambar Shahdadkot, noting that people from Balochistan also came there for medical care. He also said a PPHI hospital had been built in Nasirabad but had not been made functional, with no staff posted there. He warned that Karachi was not anyone’s personal estate and could not be separated from Sindh. Provincial Minister Shaheena Sher Ali said her ministry had completed previously stalled projects. She said Darul Amans had been constructed in Sukkur and Mirpurkhas, and that 405 women had been rescued from life-threatening situations and provided with security and livelihood support. She said a women’s complex was under construction in Sukkur to promote women’s economic independence. She said the government had activated e-commerce to enable women to sell their products internationally in dollars. She defended the Pink Scooties program, comparing early criticism of it to criticism that had once been leveled at the Benazir Income Support Programme — which ultimately succeeded. She also said PPP had won the most seats in the Gilgit elections and that its vote share in Karachi had increased. She said the city needed to move beyond its violent past toward a brighter future. Danyal Ahmed of the main opposition party – MQM challenged the government’s development narrative, saying Sindh had borrowed Rs60 billion yet conditions on the ground had not improved. He called the situation in the province one of dynastic rule. He said only 1, 000 Pink Scooties had been distributed among a population of 60 million. He said Karachi alone needed 15, 000 buses but the entire province had received only 2, 000. He questioned why any mention of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz triggered an angry reaction on the treasury benches. He pointed to unfinished projects including the K-IV water scheme, which had not been completed in 20 years, and the Zulfiqarabad project, which remained incomplete. He said he had little hope that the Keti Bandar development project would ever be built. The session was then adjourned until 10am Monday. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

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