PA resolution slams Gandapur’s remarks against women, journalists

The Provincial Assembly of Sindh on Tuesday passed a resolution to condemn the recent utterances of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur against women and journalists while participating in a recent public meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Islamabad.

The resolution was moved in the House on the private members’ day of the session by the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) MPA Sadia Javed.

Speaking on the resolution, Sindh Home, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar said Gandapur should not have become the CM of one of the four provinces in the country owing to his bad manners. Lanjar mentioned that the culture of Sindh has always stood for honouring women in all circumstances, including factional feuds.

Speaking on her resolution, MPA Sadia said the PTI does not have any culture to respect women. She urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to suspend the KP CM’s membership of the PA and also make him resign as the provincial chief executive. Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmaker Kiran Masood said that the speech recently delivered by Gandapur shows that he does not deserve to become the provincial chief executive.

Former Sindh Assembly speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani said senior PPP leader Qaim Ali Shah had served thrice as the CM, and his official conduct should be followed by Gandapur as a role model. Durrani urged Gandapur to apologise to the nation for the use of foul language during a public meeting.

Sindh Senior Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said that the ultimate blame lies with the PTI’s founder for the KP CM’s remarks about women, media workers and national institutions.

Memon told the House that the PTI’s history is replete with such sorrowful incidents. He said the PTI has been at the forefront of the vicious attempts to muddy and ruin Pakistan’s political landscape.

He alleged that anyone in the PTI who is the most vocal about disgracing their political opponents gets the top party offices and ministries. He lamented that political differences have become personal feuds owing to the politics of the PTI’s founder.

He recalled that the PPP never resorted to conspiring against national institutions despite suffering the martyrdom of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, and the prolonged imprisonment of President Asif Ali Zardari during the past regimes. He said the PPP has never conspired to weaken the motherland despite all these hardships.

KE licence

The House also passed a resolution against the bad performance of K-Electric while calling upon the government to rescind its licence. The resolution was moved by PTI MPA Sajjad Soomro.

Lanjar supported the resolution, saying that the residents of Karachi have been very upset due to the bad performance of KE. He said the city’s privatised power utility has failed to resolve the issues of the people.

PA opposition leader Ali Khursheedi of the MQM-P urged the speaker to convene a meeting of the earlier formed committee comprising legislators to check the performance of KE.

The House also formed an 11-member panel to check the performance of the three power distribution companies in Sindh. The new panel, comprising MPAs, will be empowered to summon the heads of the three distribution companies to question their performance.

PTI MPA Shabbir Qureshi presented a resolution against the government’s alleged inaction in tackling the recent monsoon rain emergency in Sindh. Memon opposed the resolution, saying that the entire machinery of the provincial government had been fully engaged in extending emergency relief to the victims of heavy monsoon rains in the province.

The information minister opined that the resolution moved by the PTI’s lawmaker reflects the ignorance of the opposition MPA. The House rejected the resolution by a majority vote.