New Delhi: Members of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party, which is in opposition in Sindh, Wednesday demanded an apology from Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah over what they called his “anti-state speech” in the assembly last week, Dawn reported on Thursday.
The Sindh assembly, where CM Murad’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is in majority, recently passed the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2021, and opposition parties have been protesting against it.
PTI legislators warned that their protests would continue.
In a resolution submitted to the secretary of the Sindh assembly, PTI lawmakers Khurrum Sher Zaman, Bilal Ghaffar, Jamal Siddiqui, Dr Imran Ali Shah, Raja Azhar, Shehzad Qureshi and Dr Seema Zia accused the CM of humiliating opposition members in his speech, the report said.
While Imran Khan-led PTI is in power in Pakistan, PPP has been ruling Sindh for the past over 13 years.
What CM Murad Said In His Speech
Speaking on the floor of the Sindh Assembly on December 11, CM Murad had said the opposition members were trying to create a “rural-urban ethnic divide”, according to the Dawn report.
“Do you want people from Islamabad to occupy Sindh? The people of Sindh will never allow such an occupation. Yes, we are part of Pakistan and we should be considered a part of Pakistan. Don’t create a situation that people start to think about something different. You are in minority and will remain in minority and can never take decisions,” the CM was quoted as having said in his speech in the House.
The PTI members’ resolution said the speech was a biased statement.
They said CM Murad’s speech was against the state of Pakistan, and asked him to withdraw his “hate speech” and apologise.
Quoting Sher Zaman, the report said the PPP government was following a dictatorial policy in the Sindh province.
About the bill, Zaman said: “The Sindh government should have talked to the opposition before introducing any law.”