MQM-P’s Rana Ansar becomes first female leader of the opposition in Sindh Assembly

Legislator of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Rana Ansar was appointed on Wednesday the new leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly replacing Haleem Adil Sheikh of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

She is the first female leader of the opposition in the history of the Sindh Assembly.

A formal notification to this effect was issued by the assembly secretariat. Rana has also been serving as the parliamentary party leader of the MQM-P in the House.

Sheikh and other lawmakers of the PTI have not been attending the session of the Sindh Assembly since May 9 violent incidents in the country following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan.

Rana has clinched the coveted position of the opposition leader when the process of consultations between the chief minister and opposition leader in the province is about to begin as per the Constitution to finalise the name of the upcoming caretaker chief minister in the province.

The tenure of the present Sindh Assembly will end on August 13.

Rana managed to clinch the post of the leader of the opposition after a breakthrough on Tuesday when the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) agreed to support the MQM-P’s nominee for the post of the opposition leader.

Before the commencement of the assembly session on Wednesday, a joint application was submitted by opposition lawmakers for replacing Sheikh as the leader of the opposition and appointing Rana in his place. The application in question carried the signatures of a total of 39 legislators belonging to the opposition benches. They even included nine lawmakers of the PTI, 20 of the MQM-P, and 10 of the GDA.

The nine legislators of the PTI who requested for change of the opposition leader are Kareem Bux Gabol, Bilal Ahmed, Muhammad Ali Aziz, Syed Muhammad Abbas Jafri, Omer Omari, Syed Imran Ali Shah, Rabia Azfar Nizami, Sanjay Gangwani, and Sachanand Lakhwani Sachal.

Just one lawmaker of the MQM-P, Kanwar Naveed Jameel, could not sign the application due to his ill health.

During the session, Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani greeted Rana on becoming the first woman leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly. He asked her to assume the seat of the opposition leader in the House, after which Rana accordingly sat on the opposition leader’s chair. The speaker later adjourned the session till August 2.

Later, talking to media persons, the new opposition leader expressed gratitude to the leadership of the MQM-P and other opposition political parties for reposing confidence in her. She expressed her resolve to plead the case of the people of Sindh.

She conceded that very less time had been left before the expiry of the term of the present Sindh Assembly and in this limited time, she had to work hard to complete many tasks.

Rana said she would give the best of her advice to further the process of consultation for choosing the caretaker setup to be installed in the province. She explained that she would try to have a caretaker setup in the province that could run the affairs of the provincial government in the best possible manner.