Karachi: Enraged parliamentarians of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) walked out of the Sindh assembly on Tuesday, after a bitter row in the house between the opposition party and members from the treasury benches.

Chaos ensued after MQM parliamentarian Khawja Izharul Haq criticised Qaim Ali Shah, the Sindh chief minister, over his apathy towards the alleged extra-judicial killings of MQM workers at the hands of law enforcement agencies.

Shah, a veteran politician in his late 80s, while countering MQM complaints, criticised the party for its past role in the violent protests in the city and dubbed a recent protest outside the chief minister’s house as an “attack”.

The chief minister said that his party’s workers were also being killed in the city.

Shah’s critical speech enraged the opposition party members who rose from their seats and gathered in front of the Speaker’s chair and chanted slogans against the chief minister and the government.

Several members of the opposition and the government were seen advancing towards each other but some of them appeased them and calmed down to avoid any physical brawl.

The chief minister, however, continued his speech uninterrupted. He criticised the MQM for calling the army into Karachi on one side, while on the other opposing military courts in the country.

He claimed that more than 300 suspects were arrested red-handed during the ongoing military operation and three of the convicts were shifted to other jails from Karachi and that was the key reason for the MQM’s anger.

MQM lawmakers boycotted the assembly session and left the house and held a press conference outside.

MQM legislator Faisal Sabzwari accused the chief minister of apathy towards the MQM workers’ extra-judicial killings. He also criticised Shah for calling the peaceful protest outside his official and lavish residence as an attack.

He said that the MQM senior leaders and supporters took the funeral coffins of the workers to the chief minister’s house to register protest but Shah never took heed of he party protest over the killings of the workers.