SUKKUR: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the fresh amendments to the Sindh Local Government Act were not aimed at victimising any chairmen or member of local bodies. He explained one amendment by saying that it was a logical argument that a chairman who would lose his majority in the house concerned would have to quit.

Mr Shah was speaking to the media on Sunday in Fatehpur village near Ghotki, where he had come to attend the marriage ceremony of PPP leader Mir Ahsan Khan Sundrani’s son.

Regarding the ongoing debate in the country on powers and domains of institutions, the chief minister said that the Constitution clearly defined the authority and responsibilities of each and every office of the national institutions.

“If the federal government remains within its parameters, then there will be no chance of a confrontation between it and the federating units,” he said, adding that since the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had come to power for the first time, its leaders had little understanding of the constitutional provisions concerning domains of institutions. “I hope they will be able to understand the Constitution and its provisions with the passage of time and by gaining experience of governance,’ he said.

Mr Shah observed that the four-five months of the PTI government had pushed the country backward as no one appeared happy over this.

He claimed that the Sindh government had been acting in accordance with the Constitution and would continue to act in the same manner in the future. The PTI government, he said, was criticising all its opponents because it was unable to do whatever it was supposed to do after coming to power.

“But we are fully aware of our responsibilities and, as such, we are doing our best to come up to the expectations of our electorates, who have reposed their trust in us,” he said.

The chief minister pointed out that development work across the province, including Ghotki, was under way without any disruption which proved that the provincial government and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership believed in serving the masses and not indulging in lip service.

MNA Syed Khursheed Shah, provincial ministers Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Abdul Bari Khan Pitafi and other PPP leaders also attended the ceremony.The chief minister also proceeded to Beheshti Arbab Shah village, where he attended the tea party hosted for him by a senior party activist Syed Mumtaz Shah Jeelani.

Contradictions in PTI’s words and deeds highlighted

Separately, speaking to the media in Sukkur on Sunday, MNA Syed Khursheed Shah repeated his party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s prediction that the PTI government was unlikely to complete its tenure.

He pointed out that the PTI, after come to power, was doing everything contrary to its promises and the roadmap it had defined during the campaign for the July 25 general elections.

“Poor people’s houses and workplaces are being demolished instead of building and allotting five million houses to them; billions are being happily borrowed though [PTI chairman] Imran Khan used to say it would be better to commit suicide than increasing debts; and PTI leaders are ridiculing the opposition leaders as against their pre-election lectures on decency in politics, to say the least” he observed.

Wondering PTI’s jubilations over its success in obtaining foreign loans, he argued that this was the wealth not supposed to be used. Rather, he noted, it was meant just for keeping in the exchequer [to enhance the country foreign exchange deposits].

He also pointed out that Bani Gala was got regularised because the PM had his residence over there but the properties of ordinary people were not being regularised even on humanitarian grounds.

Mr Shah said that political situation in the country was deteriorating as ministers’ attitude towards opposition lawmakers was not good.

He endorsed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) warning that ministers would also not be allowed into the National Assembly if leader of the opposition [Shahbaz Sharif] would not be brought to the house [under the Speaker’s production order].

Khursheed Shah said that the government might collapse due to immaturity of the ministers. The opposition wished the PTI government completed its tenure but it did not seem likely, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2019