Forget about seizing powers, says CM Murad Ali Shah

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Monday said his government was willing to work with the federal government to resolve Karachi’s issues but it should do away with its obsession of snatching powers.

“Under no condition, the Sindh government will share its powers with anyone,” Shah said while addressing a press conference in Karachi in which he spoke at length on different issues, including development of Karachi and showed progress reports of his government through different slides on multimedia.

Murad Ali Shah said that some people were discussing such options (division ofSindh) which were constitutionally impossible. “The Constitution talks about four provinces, and every province has its constitutional status, privileges and role but some people have started talking about extra-constitutional measures just to achieve their wishful thinking,” he said and urged the media not to take such things seriously. “Karachi is the capital of Sindh and it has the honour of running the country economically; this is the pain which keeps disturbing some people. Sindh is a single unit and its division is not possible.”

He dispelled rumours that an agreement had been reached between Karachi’s political parties, saying the stakeholders had only talked about constituting a committee on the city’s development issues. “There was a talk of forming a committee, but there is no agreement yet,” he clarified about a meeting between the MQM-P, PTI and PPP. He said the committee will only have members of the government and not from political parties.

Shah said that the other day a meeting was held between him and Federal Minister Asad Umar, which was attended by provincial ministers, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Saeed Ghani while PDMA Chairman Lt Gen. Mohammad Afzal was also present there. The meeting aimed at discussing the issues of cleaning of storm water drains and completing those development works, which had been left incomplete.

Shah said that the chairman NDMA had met him earlier to discuss cleaning of storm water drains. He added that out of 38 nallahs of Karachi, the NDMA was assigned to clean three nallahs and the Sindh government cleaned 35 nallahs and work of removal of sludge was still in progress. “When heavy rains wreaked havoc in the city, the prime minister moved the NDMA to Karachi which is a good move,” he said and added the NDMA was a federal organization and its job was to help the provincial governments at the time of disasters and natural calamities.

Murad Ali Shah said that the mayor of Karachi himself said that the KMC and the Sindh government were jointly working to clean 38 nallahs. When the NDMA witnessed the ongoing work plan of the provincial government, they also backed the Sindh government to complete its cleaning job. “The matter was taken up in the Supreme Court of Pakistan which assigned the task of cleanliness of nallahs to NDMA,” he said.

He said committees between two political parties are formed for political reasons. “We also are a political party and our doors are always open for dialogue,” Shah said and added, “If someone wants to talk to me on the issues of Karachi, I would definitely welcome him.” The CM, however, emphasized that under no circumstances the Sindh government would share its power with anyone. He said the Sindh government had agreed to work with the Centre to resolve the city’s issues but no power sharing agreement had been reached in this regard. He said the Constitution explained the powers for all the four provinces of the country.

Murad Ali Shah said that it was not the first time a heavy downpour had submerged some parts of the city. He showed an old newspaper cutting of 1954 in which a vehicle was shown inundated in rain water on a street of Karachi. “Traditionally, heavy rain has always been inundating various parts of Karachi but after 2008, the provincial government had taken numerous measures to dispose of rainwater within a few hours of rain,” he said.

The CM said that memory of people was very weak. “I am reminding you that in 2007 it had rained around 200mm which had claimed 50 lives,” he said and showed photographs on the screen of those days when almost the whole city was inundated and boats were being used in low-lying areas like Bath Island.

He said the situation in the city was better considerably this time “but the solution of the situation lies in removal of encroachments that have emerged along the nallahs.” He claimed that these encroachments had not occurred during PPP’s tenure but nobody was raising a finger at those responsible for the encroachments.

Shah said that his government had made intervention in the shape of reconstruction of roads and storm water drains, and construction of underpasses and flyovers, and as a result the rainwater disposed of within three to four hours and flow of traffic resumed within a few hours of the rain. He said that construction had taken place in Nazimabad [due to Green Line project] about which the letters of the DMC Central were present on the record but the quarters concerned turned a deaf ear to such requests.

“We have initiated 38 major development schemes and most of them have been completed,” he said. He said that during the heavy rain of July 27, he himself had visited the city. “Lyari is the most congested area and is situated in the depression, even then it did not get submerged because we have reconstructed its roads and drainage system.”

The CM said that the provincial government was developing 22 neighbourhood spaces in Karachi for recreation of the people of the city, as the first one in downtown of Saddar was inaugurated by Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. “I am sorry to say nobody is ready to appreciate or highlight the development works we have done but everyone is accusing the Sindh government because those doing so are rejected people,” he said.

Murad Ali Shah said that he was asking the federal government to own Karachi because its people elected their members but instead of supporting his idea, some of their members had been talking about fragmentation of Sindh. “We, the federal and the provincial, are governments and we would work together because the governance system is inter-linked,” he said and added the FBR has failed to achieve its revenue recovery targets and now they were seeking help from the Sindh government to achieve their targets.

He said that the federal government had said that they would give Rs245 billion to Sindh but they didn’t release this sum as this was one of the reasons that various uplift schemes suffered. “I am always available to meet with the prime minister for the betterment and development of Karachi and I am sorry whenever we met, the meetings carried a different colour, the colour of hatred and the colour of breaking Sindh,” he deplored.

Murad Ali Shah, criticizing the federal government, questioned the decisions about increase in price of sugar and Atta. “When the commission on sugar was constituted, the price of sugar was Rs55 kilo and after the commission report, the price reached Rs100 per kilo,” he said and added similarly wheat disappeared from the market about which the federal government had adopted a mysterious silence. Whenever anybody asks them about the increase in prices of sugar, atta other items, they passed on the buck to the Sindh government, he said.

The chief minister brushed aside the impression that he was under pressure. “Murad Ali Shah is not a person who could be pressurised,” he said categorically.

To a question, Murad Ali Shah said that he would try to hold local bodies elections at the earliest. “Everyone knows that on August 22, 2016, a notorious speech was delivered in Karachi and things had become quite critical but even then we had held the local bodies elections,” he recalled.

Replying to a question, Shah said that he and Attorney General of Pakistan had talked over the telephone on an issue but it was not the issue of his statement he had given in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Agencies add: Pakistan People’s Party Chairman (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Monday that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) can arrest his entire family but it still won’t deter him from changing the PPP’s stance on democracy, the National Finance Commission and the 18th Amendment.

The PPP chairman was addressing the media outside an accountability court on Monday where former president Asif Ali Zardari had attended a hearing related to the Toshakhana reference.

Bilawal Bhutto alleged that his lawyers were not allowed to go inside the court. The public and lawyers were not allowed to come to the court. Is this an attempt to pressurise us or the judiciary, he asked. “Are you so afraid of president Zardari,” he said adding that the entire police of Islamabad were deployed in the court’s premises.

Bilawal said that the government can do whatever it wants but the PPP will not compromise on the 18th Amendment. “We are feeling that there is pressure on us, we are being threatened so that we can tow the same line,” he said.

The PPP chairperson accused the police and administration of misbehaving with the people. “Today is August 17, every jiyala remembers August 17,” said the PPP chairman while calling it a Mango Day in reference to the plane crash of former military ruler General Ziaul Haq. Bilawal continued that there was a puppet sitting in the Prime Minister’s House and his strings were being operated from elsewhere.

The PPP chairman warned that attempts were being made to control everyone like a puppet. The PPP has faced the dictatorships of Yahya Khan, Ziaul Haq and Musharraf, said Bilawal.

The PPP chairman further said a psychological game was being played with his family but we will not change our stance on democratic and human rights.

Earlier, the Accountability Court on Monday decided to indict former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on September 9 in the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Toshakhana reference.

Accountability Judge Asghar Ali heard the case during which Asif Ali Zardari appeared before the court while former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Omni Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdul Ghani Majeed were also directed to ensure their presence in the next hearing.