KARACHI: Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani said on Monday that Murad Ali Shah would continue to serve as the province’s chief minister even if he got arrested in a graft case recently registered against him.

In response to a question at the Meet the Press programme of the Karachi Press Club about the replacement of Mr Shah as the CM in case of his arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the senior PPP leader said that he will remain the provincial chief executive.

“We have been saying since day one that NAB is a Niazi nexus and it has become an instrument of the government,” he said, adding: “NAB would make a reference against whoever gives a tough time to the federal government.”

He said Mr Shah had spoken about the rights of Sindh, talked about the National Finance Commission share of this province and done “record” development work in Karachi. “He has shown the people of the country that Sindh has a constitutional right on the gas of this province and in return for it, there is a NAB reference against him,” he said.

Threatens to air recording of Jan 16 meeting that saw a spat between chief minister and PTI’s Ali Zaidi

Video of CM-Ali Zaidi spat

Talking about a terse exchange between the CM and Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi during the Jan 16 meeting of the Karachi Coordination Committee, he said they had not made any secret recording of the meeting but many participants had joined in through a video link and “it is all recorded”.

“If the real face of this PTI government were to be shown to the people, then we would definitely air that recording,” he said.

Mr Ghani also said that the federal cabinet and the prime minister were answerable to the people about the sugar, wheat and medicine scandals.

“Also, with all the reports about the petrol, LNG and gas scandals coming to light and the involvement of cabinet members including their prime minister and their ATM and bank accounts that are being filled, there is also a burden of billions of rupees on the nation. The federal cabinet is full of crooked ministers and spokespersons and when they get stuck somewhere they resort to shenanigans,” he said.

Talking about the Pakistan Steel Mills, the minister said that the Sindh government still wanted to take it over and run it.

“It is the government’s incompetence that the Steel Mills incurred a loss of Rs42 billion. Instead of questioning those who destroyed the Mills by cutting off gas connections, punishment is being meted out to the poor workers there,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2021