SEHWAN: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail has said that ongoing debate on presidential system will cause no harm to democracy as it is just another form of governance which is working efficiently in many countries.

If people wanted the presidential system it could be discussed on the condition that democracy continued to function whether the system was parliamentary or presidential, he said while speaking to journalists after inaugurating the 767th annual urs celebrations of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar here on Wednesday.

He rejected the impression that the Centre was not releasing funds to Sindh government and said the federal government had released complete share of funds under NFC award to the Sindh government. Still, if the provincial government had a financial issue, he was ready to approach Prime Minister Imran Khan in this regard.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was a strong premier. He was working in such a manner that no prime minister had ever worked before for Pakistan. The country was facing economic crisis because of past governments’ actions and the prime minister was just trying to pay back the loans they had used up, he said.

About changes in federal cabinet, he said the prime minister had powers to have cabinet of his choice; if he noticed someone was not performing properly he was well within his authority to change him. It was the responsibility of the prime minister to look into all issues and seek their solutions, he said.

He said in answer to a question that the National Accountability Bureau was free to carry out its activities across the country and the government had not put any pressure on it to get something done. NAB had power to raid any place if it had proofs.

The governor termed the prime minister’s visit to Iran successful and said that Imran Khan wanted good relations with all neighbouring countries, particularly Iran.

He said that he was fortunate that he had inaugurated the annual urs celebrations. Because of saints like Qalandar, Sindh remained peaceful and prosperous, he said, adding that he got late reaching Sehwan as he had no helicopter. Around 2.5 to three million devotees were expected to visit Sehwan this year, he said.

The governor was accompanied by Auqaf Secretary Mohammad Nawaz, Hyderabad Commissioner Abbas Baloch and other officers concerned and PTI leaders.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2019