Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah expressed his disappointment with Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani during a session on Wednesday. The minister said that the speaker had broken the tradition of the province by calling a session in the Assembly, instead of conducting one over the phone call. “Last night, a member of the Pakistan People’s Party passed away,” Shah said. “Many people here haven’t even have gone and said prayers for him.” He reiterated that he had called the Speaker and requested him to conduct a session online or on call, but that did not happen. “This is a sad day for the Sindh Assembly. This was a tradition and it has been broken today,” Shah added. Assembly sessions in Sindh were being conducted through calls ever since the coronavirus cases in the province spiked. The session had been summoned on the requisition of the opposition parties, with over 50 MPAs belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) submitting an application early in May demanding a session to discuss the coronavirus outbreak and the measures taken by the provincial government to deal with the pandemic and provide relief to the needy Sindh Assembly speaker Agha Siraj Durrani had earlier summoned the session on May 20, later adjourning it without proceedings until today. The delay had caused an uproar among the opposition lawmakers, who had demanded Durrani’s removal and called his actions illegal. “We have made all necessary arrangements for the session, but unfortunately, since Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPA Baloch has passed away, we will have to adjourn the session after Fateha,” said Sindh Assembly secretary GM Farooq Buriro on Tuesday, referring to the assembly’s tradition of adjourning the first session after the death of a sitting MPA. Record 1,824 new coronavirus cases have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the provincial tally to 32,910. Total fatalities had amounted to 555.
