Ex-baboo Fazalur Rehman to become Sindh caretaker CM

KARACHI: Former Sindh chief secretary Fazalur Rehman has been nominated to become the caretaker chief minister of the province for a period of next two months till a newly elected government takes over in Sindh.

The name of the retired senior bureaucrat was finalised in the hours-long meeting between the outgoing Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Opposition Leader in the province Khawaja Izharul Hassan that continued till late night on Thursday.

The name of the former Sindh chief secretary for the post of the caretaker Sindh CM was nominated by the opposition in Sindh Assembly. Initially, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, being in the opposition in Sindh Assembly, nominated his name.

It is reported that the outgoing Sindh CM was assisted in the meeting by some of the members of his cabinet, which was dissolved on 28th May, 2018. Former MPA of Muttahida Quami Movement Faisal Sabzwari assisted the opposition leader in the meeting.

The Sindh CM and the opposition leader on Thursday met for the second time to consult each other on the caretaker set-up in the province and to finalise the name of incoming caretaker CM in the province.

The negotiations took place at the Sindh CM House as Thursday was the last day of the three-day deadline for the Sindh chief minister and opposition leader to reach a consensus on the issue before the issue was sent to the parliamentary committee for a decision. The speaker Sindh Assembly was supposed to constitute the parliamentary committee to take a consensus decision on the name of the caretaker Sindh CM in case the Sindh CM and opposition leader failed to reach consensus on the issue.

The first such meeting between the Sindh CM and the opposition leader took place at the Sindh Assembly building on Monday last. Sources said that in the second meeting, the two sides exchanged names with each other for the slots of the incoming caretaker cabinet in the province.

Later, the outgoing Sindh CM formally announced the name of the caretaker Sindh chief minister while talking to newsmen late on Thursday night. Talking to newsmen, the outgoing CM Murad Ali Shah said that they had fulfilled the constitutional obligation by finalising the name of the new caretaker CM of the province.

In all, 25 to 30 names were under consideration for the post of caretaker Sindh CM. The outgoing CM said that finalising the name was quite a difficult task as they didn’t want to withdraw the name after announcing it as had happened in the case of other province. He said that the new caretaker Sindh CM would take oath in a day or two once Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair was back in the province from Islamabad.

It is worth mentioning here that Fazalur Rehman twice served as Sindh chief secretary between 2005 and 2010. He did an excellent work for rehabilitation of the flood-affected people during the floods of 2010 in the province. He had also served as provincial secretaries for Excise, Finance, and other provincial departments. Fazalur Rehman also served as the accountant general of the province.

At present, he is a member of the committee formed for appointment of vice-chancellors of public sector universities in the province. It is also reported that his name was also under consideration for the post of caretaker Sindh CM before the 2013 general elections in the country but at that time he had reportedly refused such an offer.