Sindh Assembly sees chaos as PTI, PPP members clash.

Byline: Tahir Siddiqui

KARACHI -- A day after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf alleged that three of its MPAs from Sindh had gone 'missing', the provincial assembly witnessed an ugly physical brawl between members of the PTI and Pakistan Peoples Party on Tuesday as soon as the missing members entered the house and the former tried to get hold of them ahead of the Senate election.

In the ensuing chaos, PTI lawmakers managed to whisk away MPA Karim Bakhsh Gabol out of the assembly, but two others - Shahryar Shar and Aslam Abro - left the house reportedly with PPP members.

While Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh accused the PPP of kidnapping PTI members, Sindh Information Minister Nasir Shah rejected the allegation and said MPAs Gabol, Abro and Shar had expressed reservations over their party's nominations for Senate elections.

It became almost a free-for-all situation in the house after the PTI's Gabol along with two other 'disgruntled' party fellows, Shar and Abro, reached the assembly hall. PPP members gave them a warm welcome by desk thumping.

It all started when PTI MPAs tried to take away their 'disgruntled' colleague

While MPA Gabol, who had earlier issued a video and refused to vote for the PTI's candidates for Senate election, sat on the opposition benches after marking his attendance and the two other disgruntled PTI MPAs were chatting with the PPP members, a bunch of PTI members moved to Mr Gabol and made him walk towards the lobby apparently in friendly manner.

The PTI members' endeavour led to a physical fight between the MPAs of the ruling and opposition parties as a vigilant Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla and other PPP members intercepted the PTI lawmakers.

Later, the PPP claimed that they tried to prevent Mr Gabol's 'kidnapping' by his party colleague while the PTI termed it an internal party matter.

Deputy Speaker Rehana Leghari, who was in chair, tried her best to calm down the situation, repeatedly asking the fighting members to maintain order in the house, but to no avail.

Finally, she had to adjourn the session till Thursday when the situation went out of control.

While the scuffle between the two parties continued even after the adjournment, the PTI managed to take Mr Gabol's custody. The PTI members escorted Mr Gabol out of the assembly and he was driven away along with Khurram Sher Zaman and Raja Azhar Khan.

Later, the members of the PPP and the PTI made allegations and...