Mahar quits govt in protest against ‘bid to harm Sindh’
Imtiaz Ali
Karachi: A provincial minister tendered his resignation on Thursday in protest against what he called the government’s tactics to delay a resolution against an amendment that the Muttahida Quami Movement wanted to bring about in the constitution.
“I do not want to be a part of this cabinet,” Shaharyar Mahar, PML-Q’s minister for alternative energy and one of the movers of the resolution, said before he left the house.
Mahar was reacting to the action of the Speaker of the Sindh Assembly who had referred a draft resolution signed by 50 lawmakers against the proposed abrogation of Article 239 (Clause 4) to a committee.
The pro-resolution lawmakers have spelt out in the resolution their fears of Sindh being stripped of the power to check any attempt by the Centre to alter its border if the proposed amendment to Article 239 (Clause 4) is adopted.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has proposed abrogation of the article in their proposed amendment to the constitution.
“We reiterate our complete and total opposition to the proposed deletion of Article 239 (4) and shall oppose it at every forum to save Sindh from harm,” said Arif Jatoi of the National People’s Party, one of the signatories to the resolution against the amendment.
Jatoi expressed his shock over Speaker Khuhro proroguing the assembly session. He accused him of foul play. “It is obvious that the prorogation was done to avoid discussion on the matter,” Jatoi said.
The NPP leader said the Speaker had been preventing the resolution from being taken up on one pretext or the other, and so he referred the matter to a special committee on Thursday.
Meanwhile, PML-Q’s Shaharyar Mahar, just before he walked out of the assembly hall after having announced his resignation as minister, felt it wise to offer an apology to the chief minister for having used some “derogatory remarks” against him on Monday.
Talking to the media outside the assembly, he said the PPP always referred the matters it wanted to delay to the committees. He said he was so disappointed at the attitude of the government that he decided to quit it.
Source: The News
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