SUKKUR: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that there is no cold war going on between the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Sindh government and the media have blown the issue out of all proportion while the PPP has accepted the court orders and implemented them. However he added that the government would go to the apex court with an appeal in this regard.

Mr Shah stated this while talking to journalists on his arrival in Sukkur on a one-day visit on Saturday, where he reviewed schemes of the SIUT Cancer Hospital, Surgical Hospital, construction work of Girls’ Hostel of Ghulam Mohammed Mahar Medical College and newly constructed Sweet Home for orphans as well as addressing an event of the Sukkur Institute of Business Administration.

He said the Sindh government had reservations on the decision of the Sindh High Court and in this regard the government would go to the Supreme Court.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah, Sindh Minister for Information Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, MNA Noman Islam Shaikh, former MPA Dr Nasrullah Baloch, Sukkur Mayor Arsalan Islam Shaikh, Deputy Mayor Tariq Chohan and others were also present.

Syed Murad Ali Shah said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan by gathering some people in public meetings was thinking that he had won the whole country and people of the country were with him.

He claimed that those seats won by the PTI in Sindh in general elections in 2013 could not be won again by the PTI in the upcoming general elections in 2018.

He said that Imran Khan knew how to play cricket, but did not know politics which he needed to learn.

He claimed that the people loved the PPP and the PPP could not be erased from their hearts.

He said that the people of Sindh knew that the PPP had carried out various development works and the opponents would see in upcoming general elections that they would get very few seats.

He said that in the past, the PTI and the MQM-Pakistan were using filthy language against each other, but now they were trying to sit together.

He said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had “crossed its limit” in Sindh and the permission for the same was not given in the past, nor would it be given in future.

He said NAB was working in the province according to legal framework adding that it was quite incorrect to say that the Sindh government wanted to close down NAB in Sindh completely.

He said that the Anti-Corruption Establishment was fulfilling its responsibilities in the province correctly, adding that the ACE would work on those cases which came under its powers while those which came under the powers of NAB would be transferred to NAB.

The chief minister said that all ongoing development schemes in Sukkur had been delayed abnormally which included Ghulam Mohammed Mahar Medical College, Cancer Hospital, new building of Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation and different roads which were required to be completed earlier, but could not be completed.

He said that directives had been issued for completion of all ongoing development schemes by December 2017.

He said that law and order situation had improved as compared to other provinces adding that peace had been restored to all towns of Sindh, including Karachi.

He said that the Pakistan Cricket Board would be contacted for international cricket/sports events in Sindh.

After attending a luncheon, the chief minister departed for Dadu to attend a public meeting there.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2017