PPP, MQM trade barbs during Sindh Assembly session

KARACHI: Lawmakers from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) continued to exchange barbs during the Sindh Assembly session on Tuesday as the MQM protested against Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah’s speech regarding the MQM.

The CM claimed that MQM’s protest outside the CM House in September last year was in fact an attack, rather than a protest. The MQM had protested against a raid on one of their offices while dozens of their workers were detained.

Qaim Ali Shah also said that members of PPP had been killed in large numbers during operations in the city.

The war of words became so intense that MPAs from both parties rose from their seats to move towards each other, while PPP’s Sharjeel Memon and MQM’s Faisal Subzwari had to calm down their respective party members.

MQM MPA Khawaja Izharul Hassan claimed that their party workers were being tortured and killed by men in plain clothes and that MQM tried to protest for over 10 hours outside the CM House but got no answers.

The MQM MPAs eventually staged a walkout as speaker Agha Siraj Durrani looked on.