KARACHI: Two days after the Sindh chief minister and governor held a one-on-one meeting after a long gap to discuss the pandemic situation, police reforms and other issues, President Arif Alvi and Governor Imran Ismail on Friday called for resolving the province’s problems “through mutual dialogue and consensus”.

The fresh understanding between those holding key offices of the federation following the formal and publicised meeting between the Sindh governor and the CM was seen as a step aimed at lowering the political temperature between federal and provincial governments being run by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), respectively.

President Alvi in his meeting with the governor asked him to go for resolution of all problems through mutual understanding.

“Governor of Sindh Imran Ismail called on President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi here at Governor House on Friday,” said a brief statement issued by the Governor House after the meeting.

“During the meeting, development projects initiated by the federal government for the province were discussed and the sides also shared their thoughts over the upcoming schemes in the province. Besides, the overall situation in the province including law and order, public welfare measures and other issues of mutual interest were also discussed,” it said.

Says federal govt has launched many projects for people’s welfare

Only on Wednesday, Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah had held a meeting with the Sindh governor at Governor House. The meeting took into consideration issues of mutual interest, including the law and order situation of the province, development schemes and improvement of mutual relations for uplifting the living standards of the people.

The meeting between the CM and the governor had also discussed the prevailing situation concerning the spread of the coronavirus and the precautionary steps being taken to prevent the cases of the deadly viral disease in the province.

Amid political tensions between the PPP and the PTI over a number of issues and recent criticism by Prime Minister Imran Khan against the Sindh government over the island issues, the meeting got further attention and both sides agreed on a number of steps including acceleration of preventive steps against coronavirus and police reforms.

The key point of the fresh meeting between the president and the Sindh governor was a general suggestion from both sides seeking responsibility from the elected representatives for solution of the problems.

“On the occasion, Dr Arif Alvi said that all elected representatives have to show responsibility for solving the problems of the people,” said the Governor House statement. “The President further said that the federal government is taking all possible steps to address the problems of the people and many projects launched for the welfare of the people were a proof of this.”

In the meeting, the statement added, the governor briefed the president that the development and prosperity of the people in the province was among the top priorities of the prime minister and the solution of the problems in the province was being made possible through mutual dialogue and consensus.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2021