Former Sindh CM Arbab unseated

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Thursday declared the seat of former chief minister Sindh Dr. Arbab Ghulam Rahim vacant.

The House rejected Arbab Ghulam Rahim's leave application on March 20, Geo News reported.

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Agha Siraj Durrani moved the resolution against the former CM Arbab Ghulam Rahim who has been living abroad for the last four years.

In his rejected leave application, Arbab had said that certain people attacked him physically when he took oath as MPA of Sindh Assembly. However, he managed to save his life. For the last four years, the PA has been granting him leave.

Arbab said that he had filed a petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC). The SHC recently directed the Sindh government to provide security to the former chief minister. Arbab said he was waiting for a “satisfactory response” from the provincial government for his security.

“I cannot come to Pakistan due to threats to my life”, Arbab Rahim was quoted as as saying in his leave application. He said he was going to Saudi Arabia to perform Umra and would return to Pakistan only when the government promised him protection. As such, Rahim urged the PA not to unseat him.

The assembly, with a majority vote rejected Arbab’s leave application which gave rise to suspicions that the ex-CM might be unseated as sitting MPA could be unseated if he/she remained absent for a certain period of time.