HYDERABAD: The authority to impose Governor’s Rule in a province now lies with the assembly concerned and not with the president or the prime minister.

This was stated by Senior Minister for Education and Literacy Nisar Ahmed Khuhro at a press conference held in the local Circuit House on Friday. He ruled out imposition of Governor’s Rule in Sindh.

“After the 18th Constitutional Amend­ment, the powers to impose Governor’s Rule have been transferred to assemblies and the rumours that are doing the rounds in Sindh do not merit comment.

Know more: Political unity in the face of Governor’s Rule reports

The situation has now completely changed. Gone are the days when a president could impose Governor’s Rule in a fit of anger or pique,” he said.

The minister also explained that no deadline had been set for inducting the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in the provincial government.

He said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after gaining majority in the Sindh Assembly opted for a coalition government in the interest of democracy instead of going for a solo flight.

“It always tried to take all political parties along. No deadline is fixed for induction of the MQM in the government but a dialogue in this regard is continuing,” he said.

Citing some claims contained in death row convict Saulat Mirza’s video statement, Mr Khuhro said that the PPP never provided facilities to inmates in jail. It did not release prisoners on parole the way others had done.

He said that the ongoing Karachi operation was launched after consultation with all political parties and none of them was particularly being targeted.

He said Information Minister Sharjeel Memon had already contradicted the allegation against the PPP contained in the video statement.

Mr Khuhro said Rangers personnel had carried out a raid on the MQM headquarters Nine Zero after collecting some evidence. “People did not react to the raid,” he observed, and argued that people liked democracy. They had never supported undemocratic forces in the past and they would never do so in future, he added.

In reply to a question, the minister said that [Lyari gang warfare character] Uzair Baloch did not give any statement against PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari until he had been in Karachi. He said he didn’t understand the logic behind issuance of such statements while sitting in Dubai.

Convocation

The education minister also spoke at the 9th convocation of the Institute of Modern Sciences and Arts in a local hotel on Friday and said that the Sindh government would never compromise on provincial autonomy.

“The federal government is trying to snatch provincial autonomy from Sindh,” he claimed, and said Sindh did not need a curriculum prepared by ‘dictators’.

“We will go for our own curriculum,” he declared.

Earlier, Mr Khuhro attended a free book distribution ceremony and laid the foundation stone of a Cambridge system school in Jamshoro. He said 25 such schools would be set up across Sindh at an estimated cost of Rs140 million each.

ANP rally

The president of the Sindh chapter of Awami National Party, Senator Shahi Syed, has said that all political parties must disband their militant wings and those which claim to be organised political parties must provide a list of criminals hidden within their ranks to authorities.

He stressed the operation was no solution to Karachi’s problems. The government should implement in letter and spirit the Supreme Court’s directives issued in its suo motu case in 2011 for finding a permanent solution, he said.

Addressing a public meeting at Makki Shah Road on Friday, Mr Syed said that Karachi operation was not directed against any particular political party or sect. It targeted only terrorists, he said. He said that only if an election was held under supervision of army it would expose everyone’s mandate. All institutions, especially police had become highly politicised, he said.

Mr Syed said the parties which had militant wings could not be considered political parties and those which claimed to be organised political forces must provide lists of criminals hidden within their ranks.

He accused Ulema of exploiting Pakhtoons in the name of religion and said that JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman had once made a confession in a TV interview that they were used by the US.

He said that heads of army, ISI and Rangers were working like true soldiers. If people continued to discuss past mistakes they would only waste time.

“It was high time we learnt from mistakes of the past 65 years. A terrorist is a terrorist with or without a beard,” he said.

He said that Sindh belonged to Sindhis. ANP believed in non-violence, if any party worker was found involved in crimes the party itself would hand him over to law enforcers, he added.

He said that former military dictator Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf had claimed that Taliban had been created under a strategy but now they had turned against the state.

Today their mothers and daughters were being disgraced for which Musharraf must be held answerable, he said.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2015

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