28 February 2005	Monday	18 Muharram 1426

KARACHI, Feb 27: Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim has denied any interference in provincial affairs from the centre and said that the sacking of revenue minister was an administrative decision which he himself had taken.

Talking to a group of journalists on Sunday afternoon, the chief minister disclosed that he was leaving for Islamabad to attend the National Security Council meeting scheduled for Monday.

He said it was not correct that PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had taken notice of his statements or any inquiry was being conducted against him. The Prime Minister's inspection team of Maj Gen Farooq Ahmad was assigned investigation of the corruption charges on the basis of the minister was sacked.

When his attention was drawn towards contents of the charge sheet prepared by Imtiaz Shaikh, the chief minister termed the allegations outcome of after thought of the action he had initiated against him. He said, "How could 70,000 bags of wheat could disappear when such a large quantity of wheat bags were not procured so far?"

As far as warding contracts of road building was concerned, Arbab Rahim said after all he was communication minister and he had to exercise his authority. Arbab Rahim said that Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh had not accused him of any corruption during his eight-month tenure as chief minister. All these allegations against him were neither new nor proved in the past.

He said that an inquiry about corruption was ordered by Arif Jatoi in the agricultural department when he was the minister who himself resigned later in favour of his brother. However, the inquiry was still on and was not shelved.

When asked if any inquiry was going on against MNA Salim Jan Mazari, the chief minister said that he had received a delegation of Sardars from Kashmore who had pointed out cases of favouritism and illegal actions of Imtiaz Shaikh. The material provided by them was being examined, he added.

He welcomed the announcement of President Gen Pervez Musharraf for determining formula of 50:50 shares for the centre and the federating units for the new NFC Award.