KARACHI, April 18: Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim on Tuesday called on chief of the Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) Pir Pagara at his residence at the Kingri House. He remained closeted with the PML chief for half-an-hour and exchanged views on matters of mutual interest.
Although the chief minister has termed his meeting a courtesy call to inquire the health of Pir Sahib, political analysts are of the view that Dr Rahim’s visit to the Kingri House soon after President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to the city was to take Pir Pagara into confidence about likely developments in the near future in Sindh in the backdrop of the Nishtar Park tragedy and its follow-up situation.
However, after his meeting with Pir Pagara, whose party is an important ally of the ruling coalition, Arbab, talking to a group of journalists, ruled out any administrative changes, saying no such proposal was under consideration.
In reply to a question, he said whatever demands and complaints were made by the delegation of the Sunni Tehreek during its meeting with the President, these were made directly to President Musharraf, who himself would be looking to redress them.
When asked if there was any move to withdraw some of the powers of the home minister and retain them with him in view of the criticism, the chief minister said he had no such desire except that in the aftermath of the Nishtar Park tragedy, some quarters had made such speculations.
To another question, Arbab said that different federal agencies were also investigating into the tragic incident.