KARACHI: On the first day of the 15th Sindh Assembly’s session on Monday, the members of the house from both sides of the aisle set the tone of future relations on the floor when the governor-designate and newly elected member of the provincial assembly vowed to demolish “security” walls around Bilawal House.

Governor-designate Imran Ismail of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, while talking to a reporter after the oath-taking, said that the demolition of walls around Bilawal House was part of his agenda and would be done under the defined laws. While criticising the past Sindh governments, he said that now it would be under check from the Centre.

“The party [PTI] stands by its statement regarding demolishing of walls erected around Bilawal House for security and it is in fact under my agenda,” he replied to a query. “We would talk to PPP first on this subject. If they agree to do so voluntarily, it would be good. Otherwise the law would take its course.”

He said that the PTI would start accountability from its leaders and anyone in the party found involved in illegal activity of construction or business would face legal action first.

Minutes after Mr Ismail’s statement, Saeed Ghani of the PPP came out with a strong reaction and lashed out at the PTI leader, asking him to avoid acting like an “emperor”.

“The way the governor-designate has started making statements, it seems that he has been made to believe as if he was an emperor, not a governor,” he said in a statement. “Imran Ismail has neither any knowledge of powers of a provincial government nor has he any idea of responsibilities of a governor who happens to be a representative of the federal government.”

Drawing the PTI’s attention towards serious terror threats being faced by the PPP leadership, he urged the PTI leader to show political maturity and not to “act like a film star”.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2018