KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday assigned the home department back to Sohail Anwar Siyal and gave information portfolio to Syed Nasir Hussain Shah.

The portfolio of home was taken from Mr Siyal after he had developed differences with the Rangers when one of his close relatives was nabbed in some case and his presence in an apex committee meeting was questioned.

According to the notification about reallocation of the portfolios, Mr Siyal, in addition to the departments of agriculture, supply and prices, mines and minerals, would also be the home minister. Similarly, Mr Nasir, in addition to his portfolios of transport and mass transit, labour and human resources, would also be information minister. His other portfolios including religious affairs, zakat and ushr were given to Sindh Health Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro as additional responsibilities.

Both Mr Siyal and Mr Nasir Shah are considered close to Faryal Talpur, the sister of PPP co-chairman and former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari who, after returning from Dubai, was himself keeping an eye on the Sindh cabinet’s performance and found the chief minister overburdened with several portfolios, according to political analysts. CM Shah’s focus on home affairs and information department was not considered satisfactory by the party’s high command and as such, according to observers, it appeared that Faryal Talpur had been moving swiftly to regain her influence in the administration.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2017