LARKANA: Senior Sindh Minis­ter for Education and Parliamentary Affairs Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has said that the country cannot afford switching over to the presidential form of government, and reminded Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) dissident Syed Mustafa Kamal that all such experiments in the past had failed.

Speaking to journalists here on Monday, he criticised Mr Kamal, the former senator and Karachi nazim, for floating the idea. Mr Khuhro said he [Mr Kamal] must have a particular president in mind when he expressed his opinion. “Some people wish to see the presidential system to be in place to ensure the governance witnessed during the era of General Ayub Khan.

However, it was done away with when the masses rejected it due to its demerits.” He recalled that it was Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan who had in past favoured the presidential system by endorsing the former president’s referendum.

Strongly defending the parliamentary system, Mr Khuhro insisted that it provided solution to all the problems being faced by the nation. He warned that switching over to the presidential system would be tantamount to ending the significant role of provinces in the democratic dispensation.

The senior PPP leader also rejected Mr Kamal’s allegation against former interior minister Rehman Malik that he used to dictate some MQM press releases regarding his [Mr Malik’s] meetings with top MQM leadership. “Mr Malik had been holding meetings with his party’s permission as the MQM was a coalition partner. It is incorrect to claim that he used to dictate words or statements of his choice to the MQM leadership to draft press releases of such meetings,” said Mr Khuhro.

Mr Khuhru, in reply to a question, repeated PPP’s stance that the National Accountability Bureau should take action against corrupt elements across the board. He asked why they [corruption suspects belonging to Punjab] were afraid of NAB investigations if they were clean. “Those at the helm of affairs in Punjab have turned uneasy now when NAB has tightened the noose around PML-N elements. They used to be comfortable when NAB was busy with its investigations in Sindh. They now talk of clipping NAB’s wings.”

Regarding census, Mr Khuhro said it was really a matter of life and death for Sindh, and said the process must not be delayed any further. “We declare in unequivocal terms that Sindh’s stance on census will remain unchanged at the next meeting of the Council of Common Interests,” he said.

KHAIRPUR: The senior minister’s comment on Mr Kamal’s allegations against the MQM chief was also sought by journalists when he came across them after addressing a ceremony held at the Govt Naz Pilot Higher Secondary School in Khairpur on Monday for the distribution of free-of-cost textbooks among students.

Mr Khuhro said he wondered why Mr Kamal kept silent during the entire 20-years-long association with his party when every citizen in the country enjoyed freedom of expression. He said an inquiry into MQM’s links with Indian secret agency and the other allegations levelled by Mr Kamal should be held but “one should think twice before giving any statement”.

Earlier, speaking at the ceremony, organised by the Sindh Textbook Board (STB), Mr Khuhro said that the number of enrolment at schools in Sindh until last year was four million and the lasted figures put it to 4.8 million. This reflected the education department’s performance and the credit obviously went to the provincial government, he added.

He said that slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto and many PPP leaders, activists and supporters laid down their lives for the progress and development of Sindh and the country. “Sindh is our motherland and we are doing our utmost to make it stronger and prosperous,” he added.

Mr Khuhro said textbooks worth Rs1.6 billion were produced and sent to schools in all districts of Sindh for distribution among their students.

He expressed his serious concern over reports that a number of schools in Sukkur, Ghotki and Khairpur districts were still lying closed, and directed the district officers concerned to send details about them to him.

In order to improve the 15-year-old education system in Sindh, over 18,000 teachers were appointed purely on a merit basis while Rs1 billion was earmarked for payment of monthly stipend to four million needy female students last year. The stipend scheme would continue during the current year, he said.

STB chairman Syed Zakir Hussain Shah, Director Schools Aapa Zaib Mangi and officials of the local education department besides elite of the area, students and their parents attended the ceremony.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2016