KARACHI, Sept 23: Leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has criticised the Friday reshuffle in the provincial cabinet, saying that important ministries are given to the advisers who cannot sit in the assembly.
In a statement issued here on Saturday, he said the province was being treated as a fiefdom of the ruling coalition where all important ministries were with the MQM, “which has introduced the novel system of rotating its party confidants to make hay while the sun shines.”
According to him, unimportant ministries are with the non-MQM Sindhis, none of whom is serving the interests of the people of Sindh.
Mr Khuhro pointed out that out of 36 ministries, MQM kept 50 per cent share. “Why that party insists on particular ministries when it cannot even find someone in the house to head any of the same?” He claimed that officially, the MQM
advisers were aides to the chief minister but in practice, they bothered only for their party’s interests and not those of citizens of Sindh.
In a coalition government, all segments bear a collective responsibility, but that party always blamed others for the plight of the people and never appeared ready to concede its own shortcomings. In this context, he referred to the post-rains situation in Karachi, Hyderabad and other parts of the province.
Mr Khuhro said that the MQM had always insisted on being given the home ministry but had failed to improve the law and order in the province as street crime, theft and dacoity were on the increase. He cautioned that as long as the parties in the ruling coalition would continue to treat the province as their ‘jageer’ and kept on fighting over portfolios, all their claims about serving people and being committed to democracy would remain a mere eyewash.
He also accused the federal government of making a mockery of the Council of Common Interest (CCI), and said that a conference of the opposition leaders of all four provinces would be convened next month to discuss the issue.
