KARACHI: Speaker of the Sindh Assembly and acting Governor Agha Siraj Durrani administered oath to eight newly-appointed ministers and two advisers at the Governor House on Sunday.

The ministers and their portfolios are:

Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho (health and population welfare), Saeed Ghani (local government, public health engineering, rural development and katchi abadis), Shehla Raza (women development), Ismail Rahu (agriculture, supply and prices),

Hari Ram (minorities’ affairs, social welfare and prisons), Shabir Bijarani (mines and minerals development), Sardar Shah (education, culture, tourism and antiquities), and Makhdoom Mehboob (revenue and relief).

The advisers are Murtaza Wahab and Mohammad Bux Maher.

Soon after the oath-taking ceremony, the chief minister and his cabinet members visited the Quaid-i-Azam mausoleum, laid a wreath and offered fateha.

Talking to the media at the mausoleum, Mr Shah demanded due financial share for Sindh. He said there were various issues on which the federal government should support the Sindh government and the most important one was the NFC Award.

“We have already told the federal government in writing that Sindh contributes more than 60 per cent revenue in the divisible pool, therefore, it should get its due share,” he said.

The chief minister recalled that the PML-N government had announced Rs25 billion package for Karachi but provided nothing.

“We are observing Imran Khan’s federal government closely whether it respects smaller provinces or not. We would welcome if the PTI government gives special attention to the city. Imran should know that we will not stop asking for our rights,” he added.

When asked about accountability, Mr Shah said there would be proper accountability but “we would not accept political victimisation in the name of accountability”.

He also vowed to strengthen Anti-Corruption Establishment to curtail corrupt practices.

Referring to his cabinet, Mr Shah said he had appointed a balanced cabinet and all the members were experienced and well-educated.

“The people of Sindh have once again trusted the PPP leadership in the July 25 polls. I am sure we will be able to serve the people of Sindh,” he said.

Talking about expansion of the cabinet, he said it would be expanded after Eid.

When asked about the issues being faced by the province, he said he had summoned the first meeting of the cabinet on Monday evening which would review the situation in the province.

According to the official agenda, the issues to be discussed in the meeting included law and order, availability of water for irrigation and drought situation in the Tharparkar district.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2018