KARACHI - The Sindh Assembly session was adjourned by Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani due to absence of lawmakers from the sitting on Tuesday.

Opposition lawmaker Nusrat Sehar Bano blamed the speaker for deliberately adjourning the session to bulldose opposition agenda on private members day.

This is not the first time that the members of the Sindh Assembly had arrived late for the provincial assembly proceedings instead almost all the proceedings of the assembly normally began an hour or more late.

However, on Tuesday – which is a private members day – the speaker came to the assembly hall at 10:45 am and expressed his disappointment over the absence of lawmakers. The speaker said that he had to wait for the lawmakers in his chamber soon after the scheduled timing of 10:00 am but nobody is serious in following the assembly schedule.

He then announced to adjourn the proceedings for Thursday afternoon without giving another chance for the lawmakers to gather.

PPPP lawmaker and Sindh Secretary Information Sadia Javed said that since it was a private members day and the agenda comprised business from opposition members, therefore it was the responsibility of the opposition parties to maintain quorum in the house.

“Unfortunately, there is no seriousness on the side of opposition and on Tuesday when the speaker came to the rostrum there was only one woman lawmaker sitting on opposition benches and the rest were absent,” she said adding that even the opposition leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi has shown non-serious attitude and had not attended the session yet.

She said that they were also disappointed over the adjournment of the session and even the chief minister has expressed his dismay over it and would ensure that this does not happen in the rest of the sittings.

She further informed that the speaker Sindh Assembly had conveyed a report to the PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari regarding the performance of the lawmakers during assembly sessions.

Firebrand PML-F lawmaker Nusrat Sehar Bano, however, contradicted with her remarks and said that maintaining quorum in the house was the responsibility of the government as it has major stake in the house.

She blamed the speaker Sindh Assembly for deliberately adjourning the session in haste and said that it was only aimed at bulldosing the agenda of the opposition on private members day.

“This was the first proper private members day of the assembly and even I have a resolution over irregularities in provincial Higher Education Commission but unfortunately the speaker adjourned the session without waiting for the members,” she said adding that normally the proceedings- that have government agenda- begun an hour or more late but then the speaker do not adjourn the sitting.