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Rumpus in Sindh PA over Rangers' powers extension

Islamabad: Sindh Assembly speaker abruptly adjourned the session on Monday till Tuesday amid chants and sloganeering by opposition lawmakers, who were protesting against the PPP-led government for not taking up the critical issue of extending Rangers' special powers in the province.
The session was expected to resolve the matter of extending Rangers' special powers in Sindh, which had expired on December 6, with the federal government and Sindh at odds over the matter.
The discussion regarding the extension of special police powers for Rangers' was 11th on the day's agenda. But speaker Agha Siraj Durrani had to adjourn the session after normal proceedings could not be held.
Importantly, no resolution was presented nor discussion held on the key issue of Rangers' powers.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah blamed the opposition for the turmoil and claimed that the issue was being unnecessarily politicised. He said the Rangers will get the powers and the matter would be resolved soon. "The Rangers are with us and we are with them as there was no conflict," shah remarked.
Earlier, the opposition reiterated that the matter was being prolonged to save one man, Dr Asim Hussain, who is accused of facilitating funding and treatment of terrorists.
In a presser on Saturday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan went so far as to hint at the possibility of imposing Governor's Rule in Sindh to continue the Karachi operation.
He said that the delay in extending Rangers' powers was a message to embolden terrorists and extremists, adding that in case Sindh did not comply, the government had four to five different options within the "constitutional, legal and democratic framework". Rejecting Nisar's allegations, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Shah, dared Nisar to exercise the options he is threatening the Sindh government with. "He must remember that we too have options which are quite savoury," Shah said while speaking in the assembly session on Monday.
Shah cautioned the prime minister to "beware of the snakes under his arms" who are out to destroy tranquility.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reportedly spoke to the chief minister on Sunday night on return from Turkmenistan. The PM left for China to attend the Shanghai Conference and asked the chief minister to meet him in Islamabad on Wednesday.
news@khaleejtimes.com

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