PA slams Centre for not appointing Irsa member from Sindh.

Byline: Tahir Siddiqui

KARACHI -- The major opposition parties in the Sindh Assembly, including the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, supported the Pakistan Peoples Party in the house against the decisions of the PTI-led coalition in the Centre as the provincial lawmakers unanimously adopted two resolutions condemning the appointment of a federal government representative in the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) and the removal of former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed from the national cricket squad.

At the outset of the assembly session, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah rose in his seat to seek Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani's permission to invite the attention of the house towards the appointment of Irsa member from Punjab instead of Sindh.

'It is a matter of grave concern and highly deplorable that the prime minister did not give any importance to the protest and reservations of this house on the appointment of Irsa's federal government representative from Punjab,' he said.

The chief minister said the federal cabinet approved the appointment of Irsa member, who belonged to Punjab, despite the fact that there were six ministers, three advisers and two special assistants belonging to Sindh in the federal cabinet. 'Three of them who are Sindhi-speaking even did not attend the cabinet meeting that took the decision against the interests of Sindh,' he said.

Another unanimous resolution criticises PCB for removing Sarfaraz Ahmed from cricket team captaincy

Quoting a member of the federal cabinet, Mr Shah revealed that he was told that not a single word was uttered on the issue by the cabinet members belonging to Sindh. 'It is for the first time since 1999 that the federal government representative member of Irsa did not belong to Sindh,' he said, terming it an attempt to usurp the province's rights.

He said he had raised the issue during Monday's session and requested the opposition members belonging to the PTI, Grand Democratic Alliance and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan to take up the issue with the prime minister during his visit to Karachi on the same day.

The chief minister said that he was told that the opposition members did voice concern of the provincial lawmakers in their respective meetings with the prime minister. 'Despite this, the controversial appointment was made unilaterally,' he said.

Mr Shah said he had got a resolution drafted and would like the house members to adopt it unanimously to show their reservation over the federal government's...

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