December 20, 2008	Saturday	Zilhaj 21, 1429

KARACHI, Dec 19: A so-called core committee comprising representatives of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has agreed on a mechanism to implement the Sindh government’s decisions regarding fresh registration/verification of arms licences and removal of barriers on roads and in streets.

The core committee was constituted to sort out the issues that may create differences between the two major coalition partners in Sindh.

At its meeting held at the Chief Minister’s House here on Friday, the committee decided that the home department should issue the mandatory NOC (no-objection certificate) for the installation of barriers on the recommendations of a committee comprising nominees of the home department, the town/taluka nazim and TPO concerned.

The representative committee would conduct a survey of the locality where such a barrier existed or sought to be installed. After evaluating and assessing the situation, it would put forward its recommendations to the home department for the issuance of the NOC.

The committee also agreed on the creation of a cell in the home department to oversee the process of registration/verification of arms/weapons licences. It stressed that no harassment should be caused to licence-holders in the process.

The core committee was formed after a tussle between Sindh Minister for Local Government Agha Siraj Durrani and City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal over certain issues concerning the jurisdiction of the provincial and district governments. The committee was entrusted with the task of sorting out such differences with a view to preventing any rift between the coalition partners in future.

The two parties were said to have locked horns again after the Sindh cabinet, while reviewing the causes of recent ethnic tension and violence in Karachi, decided removal of unauthorised barriers installed on roads and in streets of the city. A high-level meeting attended by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik a couple of days before Eidul Azha also decided to ask holders of arms licences to get their licences verified by the home department.

The MQM had reportedly expressed its reservations over both the decisions. However, the core committee convened its meeting and sorted out the matter.

At the meeting, the PPP side was represented by Senior Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq, Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, Irrigation Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani and Agriculture Minister Syed Ali Nawaz Shah. The MQM side comprised MNA Dr Farooq Sattar and Senator Babar Ghauri, Public Health Engineering Minister Adil Siddiqui, IT Minister Raza Haroon, Hyderabad Nazim Kanwar Naveed and MQM coordination committee member Waseem Aftab.

Rain losses

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has expressed his grief and sorrow over the widespread damage caused by the torrential rain in the province over the past two days.

Expressing sympathy with the affected people, he directed the Sindh Board of Revenue and the revenue department to conduct a survey of the affected areas to assess the damage caused to houses, lands, cattle and crops. He said a detailed report in this regard should reach him at the earliest.