COVID-19: Sindh Assembly getting transformed into danger zone

KARACHI: Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani has warned that he will be left with no option other than to hold the proceedings of the current budget session of the house all virtually through video conferencing if the protesting opposition lawmakers in the PA did not observe the standard operating procedures (SOPs) against the spread of COVID-19.

The warning to his effect came on Saturday as the speaker was chairing the session of the provincial assembly that commenced general discussion on the newly presented Sindh government’s budget for the new financial year 2020-21. He said on the occasion that he would not let the lives of the lawmakers become endangered. The provincial assembly was getting transformed into a danger zone as several of the legislators and staff members had tested positive for the coronavirus infection, he added. Durrani said the lawmakers should not take the coronavirus epidemic as a joke as all the legislators were supposed to undergo testing for the viral disease. He maintained that the opposition legislators had violated the SOPs in the manner they protested in the House during the budget speech of the chief minister. Speaking on the occasion, the leader of the opposition in the house, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Firdous Shamim Naqvi, said that they were ready to act on all the SOPs. He acknowledged that an understanding had been reached between the opposition and treasury members in the House that the lawmakers would be allowed to attend the budget session of the house on the basis of the results of their coronavirus tests.