City Council Session lasts for 17 minutes:Treasury demands replacement of UC secretaries, opposition demands arrest of Nisar Baloch

November 16, 2009


By Irfan Aligi

KARACHI: City Council session on Monday was adjourned till 12 noon only after 17 minutes, henceforth, the house could not discuss on the proposed agenda nor it could table or approve any council Resolution.
The session was started at about 3.20 pm and immediately after the house was in order, the opposition benches had demanded probe into slain social activists Nisar Baloch.
Speaking on point of order, Pakistan People’s Party Awam Dost Group and deputy opposition leader in the house, Haji Muhammad Jumman Darwan said that encroachment of public land was rampant in city while those who had raised their voices against it were silenced to death. Among them, Nisar Baloch was an eminent social activist but those who wanted to occupy the historical Gutter Baghicha Land had killed him.
Darwan demanded the house to offer prayers to the departed soul of Nisar Baloch. The House thus offered prayers to the departed soul of Nisar Baloch and the others.
Meanwhile, while the treasury benches took to the mike, the opposition benches started shouting that continued for a few minutes. They raised slogans demanding arrest of the assassins of Nisar Baloch.
In the mean time, a couple of treasury benches members including Muhammad Arshad Qureshi, Abdul Jalil and leader of the house Muhammad Asif Siddiqui had spoken on point of orders while they raised issued of union councils (UC) secretaries in their speeches.
Qureshi said that the Sindh Local government department has unlawfully withdrawn secretaries from 134 UCs of the city while no reasons were offered. This act of the Sindh Local government department was in absolute negation to the provisions laid in the Sindh: Local Government Ordinance-2001 and the notification should be withdrawn because the withdrawal of the secretaries has caused routine businesses of the UCs to halt.
Siddiqui on point of order spoke that Sindh Local Government Department’s decision was against the law and termed it as the exaggerated act of the department. He suggested that the house should forgo all other discussable points of issue and should engage in debating the issue of withdrawal of the secretaries.
Jalil on point of order claimed that the withdrawal of 134 secretaries was not lawful as the sections 74 and 75 of the SLGO-2001 were clear on the matter that UC nazims have powers to designate powers to any UC personal or could nominate any personnel as principal accounting officer of the UC. The Sindh Local Government Department should provide replacement of 134 secretaries because this has halted all financial procedures of these 134 UCs.
The convener of the house, city naib nazim Nasreen Jalil having tried her best to control the situation as she repeatedly requested the opposition members to calm down but the opposition members demanded that the house should postpone all other discussions except that of the murder of Nisar Baloch. Consequently, the convener adjourned the session till Tuesday 12 noon.