Pakistan: PTI stages protest outside Sindh Assembly after lawmakers prevented from entering House
Jun 30, 2021
Sindh [Pakistan], June 30 : Pakistan Tehreeke-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers on Tuesday staged a protest outside the Sindh Assembly after eight of them were barred from entering the Assembly premises in view of their "disorderly conduct damaging the sanctity of the House".
According to Dawn, the PTI lawmakers had disrupted the assembly proceedings on Monday when opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh was denied permission to address the House before his turn. Subsequently, the opposition legislations brought a charpoy into the House, symbolising it as the "funeral of democracy".
The speaker later expressed displeasure over the behaviour of the opposition, saying they had violated the sanctity of the House. He subsequently banned the entry of eight PTI MPAs (Members of Provincial Assembly) from the current session on Tuesday.
Following this, a group of PTI lawmakers arrived at the assembly, accompanied by supporters holding drums, while a few others banned from the session wore garlands, but they were stopped by the security staff. Adil Sheikh also joined them and unsuccessfully attempted to pressure the staff to allow them entry.
Amid resistance from the guards, PTI's Shabbir Qureshi, Muhammad Riaz Haider and Abdul Rasheed of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) [who was among the MPAs looking to enter the building] scaled the gate and managed to enter the assembly, Dawn reported.
On Monday, as the assembly proceedings began, PTI leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi stood to speak first, but Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani refused permission to him, insisting the assembly business would be conducted first, prompting Naqvi to leave the House.
Naqvi said their leader was barred from speaking in the House yesterday, while a few other legislators were denied entry to the assembly today.
"I announce to resign from my seat (PS-101, Karachi East-III) due to behaviour of the Sindh government and I have submitted my resignation on the floor of the House," he said.
