According to Express Tribune, Governor Imran Ismail has sought an explanation over alleged use of forged signatures in order to summon a Sindh Assembly session. The number of signatures in question were claimed to be one-fourth of the total house members. As per reports some of the MPAs whose signatures were mentioned were either not available or out of the country.
Background
The Governor's notice of the forged signature application comes after the chief minister's application. Sindh Chief Minister had already sent a summary to the Governor which was delayed by the Governor's office as per allegations.
The supposed delaying tactics and subsequent arrest of former president Asif Ali Zardari led the PPP leaders to resort to the option of summoning the provincial assembly session through an application to the governor.
The session in question which began on June 12 condemned former President's arrest by the National Accountability Bureau.
Opposition party members under the leadership of Firdous Shamim Naqvi raised the concerns regarding the legality of the session.
Letter
The Governor's letter states,
“On examination, regrettably it was found that a few members of PPP, including Malik Asad Sikandar, Dr. Sohrab Sarki, Abdul Razzak Raja, Munawar Ali Wassan and Faryal Talpur, whose signatures were found appended on the list, were either out of the country or were not in the city.”
The Governor further states that while the application in question was under scrutiny by the Governor's staff, Deputy Speaker of Sindh Assembly invoked Article 54 (3), which can only be exercised under extreme measures and requires one-fourth of the house representatives' signatures.
“In view of the foregoing, the issuance of requisition and the session which was summoned on June 12 onwards is illegal ab initio. I would request you to kindly probe this matter to find out the factual situation as to who is responsible for such fraudulent activity on behalf of Sindh Assembly speaker,” said the governor.
The Chief Minister, on the contrary, lauded the treasury benches. He was of the view that Governor was either delaying the session or not responding in due time.