KARACHI - Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi has written a letter to Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, asking him to review formation of the business advisory committee.
The joint opposition bloc comprising three major opposition parties -- Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) -- refrained from meetings for formation of the advisory committee over their reservations on representation formula of the parties in the committee.
The letter addressed to the speaker termed the membership of advisory committee as against the logic, non-proportional and non-representative.
While giving his formula for the representation of parties in the committee, the opposition leader said that each party having greater representation in the assembly be given two seats in the committee while smaller parties should be allotted a single representation.
He said that the current membership in the committee has given undue advantage to the ruling party that has taken a majority of the seats while other opposition parties are given single seats irrespective of their strength.
He further asked to consider MMA and TLP as treasury parties keeping in view of their voting track record in the assembly. “They should be adjusted in quota reserved for treasury benches,” he demanded.
The five members of the opposition parties in the committee- a formula agreed by treasury and opposition- should be adjusted with two members each from PTI and MQM-P and one from the GDA, he suggested.
He further said that if the treasury wants to run the assembly proceedings smoothly then their recommendations should be accepted. “Otherwise we will be forced to boycott the proceedings of the committee,” he said.
Opp leader demands to table auditor’s general report, third quarter expenditure report in SA before budget.
The opposition leader in his two separate letters has also asked the speaker to hold debate on the audit report of the auditor general and third quarter of the report on the expenditure of the provincial government in the ongoing fiscal year.
“With May end nearing, we are still unable to see report on provincial government expenditure during third quarter of the ongoing fiscal year,” he said adding that it was difficult to examine the upcoming budget without the report being presented in the house.
“The expenditure report should be tabled in the house before the budget sitting,” he asked the speaker.
In a separate letter, he further asked to allocate specific time for discussing the report of the auditor general on the provincial government expenditures before budget proceedings.
Speaker asked to separate MMA, TLP from joint opposition
In a separate letter, the opposition leader also asked the speaker to change seating arrangement of the assembly with joint opposition bloc considered as separate from that of MMA and TLP members- also part of opposition benches. “Accommodate the TLP and the MMA members to one side so that joint opposition can sit together in maintaining harmony and good spirit within assembly,” he said.