KARACHI - Sindh Assembly on Monday passed Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2017 with a majority vote by the House amid protest from opposition parties.

The bill stated that the vote of no-confidence could be brought against the chairmen and vice chairmen of the union councils and union committees of Sindh.

The opposition parties, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan Muslim League Functional and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz staged a protest in the provincial assembly after the speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani refused to allow their members to speak. The opposition lawmakers protested in front of the dice of the speaker, forcing him to adjourn the session for five minutes. The protest however, continued and the speaker got on with other agenda of the assembly.

Speaking on it, Minister for Local bodies Jam Khan Shoro said that chairmen and vice chairmen of the union councils and committees were elected through direct vote and since they were not elected by members of union committees and union councils, therefore they could not be removed through a vote of no confidence.

Meanwhile, speaking on the Sehwan tragedy, MQM lawmaker Sabir Hussain Qaimkhani said that most of the deaths occurred in Sehwan incident were due to the negligence of the provincial government and if proper health facilities were present then the death toll could be lower.

He said that instead of overseeing the rescue operation and inquiring after the injured, the chief minister was busy in receiving the VVIPs after the incident.

He further said that if this incident had happened in developed world then the people responsible would had resigned from their posts.

PTI lawmaker Seema Zia said that neither there were proper health facilities in Sehwan nor police was equipped and trained enough to deal with such incidents and its aftermath.

“Reforms have been brought in KP police and it has yielded positive results,” she said, and added, “Similar reforms should be brought in Sindh also in order to improve police ability.”

MQM lawmaker Heer Soho lambasted the chief minister and said that there was no need for such a chief minister who could not construct a hospital in his constituency. “Instead of delivering speeches, the chief minister should focus on development in the province,” she said.