KARACHI: Amid the cold wave gripping the city these days, a surprising drop in political temperature was seen at Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum on Wednesday.

Senior leaders of rival parties — the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — holding key offices in Sindh, communicated messages of understanding to each other. Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah was “thankful to PM Imran Khan” for resolving several issues of the province at the last meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) and Governor Imran Ismail referred to the progress and prosperity of Sindh as a “common quality” between the two parties.

After offering fateha at the mausoleum on the occasion of the 143rd birth anniversary of the Quaid, the two jointly interacted with the media and their responses to the queries were largely reconciliatory and cordial — a markedly different tone by the rival parties as compared to previous exchanges.

The Sindh CM led the initial warm response when replying to a question about relations between the parties in the centre and the province affecting development in Sindh by lauding the federal government for its recent moves.

CM, governor strike a conciliatory tone on visit to mazar

“Like I said, today we need to follow his [the Quaid’s] key principle which is unity. And I am thankful to the PM for the recent CCI meeting where several issues related to provinces led to a resolution. There were a few issues with the Water Accord 1991. Similarly, we have reservations over a few proposals and he heard those out. For instance, we have serious objections over the renewable energy policy and the PM instantly agreed to defer that policy and issued a directive to get back to the provinces on the subject. So, positive things are happening and on the eve of New Year we should resolve to move forward with unity in the future.”

Governor Ismail right away reciprocated. He shared a few points discussed in his recent meeting with PM which carried some surprising details amidst the growing tussle between the PTI and PPP mainly over the recent NAB notice to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, second time in a month, in fake bank accounts and money laundering cases, which the PPP chairman had earlier said was a move from the ruling PTI to “sabotage Dec 27 rally in Rawalpindi” that will be held to mark the 12th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

“The PTI and PPP are two different parties with different thoughts and ideologies. But one thing is common between them — they both think about the progress of the province and they both look forward to the development of the country. As the CM has just said, the CCI meeting was positive and hopefully the trend would continue. The PM is scheduled to visit Karachi on [Dec] 27th and he is willing to meet the chief minister. During his visit, we will give a presentation to the PM about proposed development projects and we hope with this spirit the other cities of the province such as Hyderabad and Sukkur would also be developed.”

In response to the governor’s announcement, the Sindh CM said he was not aware of the PM’s visit but showed his willingness to receive him at the airport saying it was his “job” as the chief executive of the province. But then he quickly responded about his schedule on Dec 27 to attend the rally in Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi.

Homage

Meanwhile, the birth anniversary of the Quaid was observed in the metropolis with national spirit as the Sindh governor, chief minister, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, high civil and military officials and political leaders visited his mausoleum to pay homage.

Sindh Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah and IG Dr Kaleem Imam also offered fateha. Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, DG Pakistan Rangers, Sindh Major General Umar Bukhari and others also visited the mausoleum.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2019