The newly elected representatives of the Sindh Assembly on Saturday took the oath of office in their maiden session. The session, set to commence at 11am, faced a delay of 40 minutes. Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani administered the oath to the newly elected MPAs, extending congratulations and best wishes. During the session, SA speaker Agha Siraj Durrani warned people present in the assembly to not shout as PPP workers and supporters chanted slogans. Sindh’s chief minister-designate Murad Ali Shah said that the federal and provincial governments facing formidable challenges in their upcoming tenures. Talking to media in Sindh Assembly, Shah, who is going to become the only chief minister of Sindh, holding the top provincial office third time, said that the country facing several difficulties. “Hopefully, we will jointly guide Pakistan out of these hardships,” he added. Shah said that the Speaker Sindh Assembly and chief minister’s election will be held on Sunday and Monday respectively. Commenting on the opposition parties protest over elections, Murad Ali Shah said, “they will protest outside, we will take oath here”.

“Hopefully, they will not take the law in their hands”. “If found an opportunity, I will give the account of each and every seat, how we won and why our seats dropped from expectations,” he said. Police arrested at least 100 protestors as the newly elected members of the provincial legislature take oath in the maiden session of the Sindh Assembly. Heavy contingents of police have been deployed at different spots on Shahrah-e-Faisal and where one track is completely blocked for the traffic. Karachi East police have also arrested protestors from Awami Markaz and Karsaz and shifted them to Bahadurabad and other police stations. JUI-F leader Rashid Soomro’s rally staged a sit-in at toll plaza after he was stopped at Karachi Hyderabad toll plaza. He said that they aim to reach Sindh Assembly and stage protests outside the provincial assembly as it is their constitutional right to stage peaceful protests. Earlier, the Sindh government imposed Section 144 in the south zone amid protest announced by five rival parties in front of the assembly against ‘bogus’ elections.

The Government of Sindh, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 144 (6) Cr.PC, hereby imposes a ban on public assembly, gatherings, protests, processions, and demonstrations in South Zone Karachi Division for a period of 30 days with immediate effect,” stated the provincial government’s notification issued late Friday. It further notifies, “In pursuance of Section 195 (i) (a) Cr.PC, the S.H.Os of the concerned Police Station are hereby authorized to register complaints under Section 188 PPC in writing for the violation of Section 144 Cr.P.C against the violators of this Notification. It is pertinent to mention here that the leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fzal (JUI-F) announced  plans to stage a protest outside the assembly building. As per the ECP’s results, PPP won the most provincial assembly seats (84) followed by MQM-P (28), while independent candidates bagged 14, GDA 2, and JI two seats in the February 8 polls in Sindh.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)