KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has stressed the need for being punctual in daily life.

He was speaking as the chief guest at the 41st death anniversary of renowned short story writer Naseem Kharal here at the Arts Council.

The programme was hosted by the culture department and attended by Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah, Food Minister Hari Ram, Imdad Husseni, Noorul Huda Shah, Shaukat Shoro, MPAs Naeem Kharal, Qasim Soomro, Sohrab Sarki and others.

The CM recalled that it had become a fashion to start such programmes late. “This does not only waste your time but also resources besides causing inconvenience to others. We as a nation must resolve today to be punctual in our life, in our work and in our services whatever we are supposed to do,” he said.

He said that Naseem Kharal made the best use of his time in his agricultural as well as literary works and translated all his personal experiences into short stories.

Mr Shah said that Naseem Kharal was a leading short story writer, who wrote just 32 stories.

He said that his work in terms of quantity was short but as far as quality was concerned it was of international standard that was why his stories had been included in the syllabus of universities because his stories reflected the issues of the class system in society.

“Naseem Kharal through his story characters has exposed tyrannies of feudal lords and has talked about rights of the poor,” he said.

The chief minister said that Naseem Kharal was killed to silence his pen from raising the voice of the voiceless but his literary work was still alive and spoke loud for the oppressed.

Appreciates Memom community

Meanwhile, the CM attended a programme of the United Memon Jamaat of Pakistan at a local hotel and appreciated the Memon community for its contribution in education, health, trade and commerce as well as social welfare.

He said that the Jamaat had been serving the community for 40 years.

Mr Shah said that the public-private partnership mode of working was a success story of his government. He vowed to work with the Memon Jamaat in water sector in the same mode. He said that some people were saying that the people of Karachi were generous in giving zakat and donations but they were reluctant to pay taxes. “This is wrong because its Karachi’s traders and businessmen who have been contributing a lot to government revenues,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2019