ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch arrived in Karachi on Saturday to hold some important meetings with the political leaders and military commanders in Sindh.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Baloch confirmed that he was scheduled to meet Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah as well as the Karachi corps commander, but denied that his visit was linked with the present political crisis.

Mr Baloch claimed that he had been meeting the chief minister and the corps commander in connection with some affairs related to his ministry, which also deals with the issues of refugees and displaced people.

He said he had enquired after the health of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s MNA Rashid Godil who was injured in a terrorist attack. The minister said he had met Mr Godil in his personal capacity as a colleague in the National Assembly.

It was after Mr Baloch’s visit to a hospital to see Mr Godil that some TV channels reported that he had been sent to Karachi by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with the task to pacify the agitating members of the MQM and the PPP over recent actions of Rangers and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against leaders of the parties. Mr Baloch, however, denied that he had been assigned any such task by the prime minister.

An MQM leader, when contacted, said there had been no discussion on political matters when Mr Baloch came to see Mr Godil. The leader said the party was expecting some positive developments during the coming week on the issue of the formation of a committee to ameliorate its grievances regarding the ongoing operation against criminals in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2015

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