KARACHI: Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday said that the Pakistan Peoples Party government in the province, just after restoring law and order, embarked the province on the road to development and prosperity.

“Development and prosperity of any province or country depend upon best working conditions, which can be created with ideal law and order,” he said while addressing 51-Pakistan Staff Course participants led by their Commandant PN War College Rear Admiral Shifaat Ali Khan, who called on him here at the CM House.

The participants belong to different countries, including Bangladesh, Bahrain, Sri Lanka and other countries.

The CM said that the province had the worst law and order as people used to travel in police convoys on highways and there were no-go areas in Karachi. Targeted killing, kidnapping for ransom and extortion were common crimes in the city.

“The first and gigantic task for the provincial government in 2008 was to restore law and order in the province therefore, in the first phase highways were cleared from the dacoits by launching different operations,” he said.

“The PPP government in Sindh not only enhanced the morale of the policemen by raising their salaries, equipped them with latest weapons and gadgets, mobilised them with new vehicles and improved compensations if any of them loses his life in the line of duty,” Mr Shah said.

He added a targeted operation was started, which not only restored peace in the city but restored public confidence in the government too.

He said that the provincial government made a massive investment in Thar and turned it into one of the hubs of investment. “Today, Thar has a vast road network, airport, and major projects of mining, power generation, coal to gas, coal to liquid and newly established educational institutions,” he said.

Talking about health facilities, Mr Shah said that his government had improved three major hospitals — the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and National Institute of Child Health — in Karachi.

“The NICVD has eight satellites in other district headquarters of the province and open-heart surgery is performed in Karachi and Sukkur,” he said and added the Gambat Institute of Health had expertise in liver transplantation and they had conducted 5,000 liver transplants.

He said that the CyberKnife of JPMC was one of the best facilities in the world where free of cost treatment was provided.

Mr Shah said that the Sindh government was the only provincial government that established a 200-bedded Institute of Infectious Diseases known as Covid-19 hospital at Nipa.

“This institute provides treatment to the Covid-19 patients and conducts research to control infectious diseases,” he said.

He also told the visiting delegation that the provincial government on public-private partnership bases had constructed major roads, such as four-lane Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas road, Karachi-Thatta road, Jhirk-Mulakatiar bridge on river Indus, Thar coal mining, water supply to Thar coal blocks, Ghotki-Kandhkot bridge on River Indus and various others.

The CM responded to the queries of the participants and presented the Commandant War Course College with a shield and other souvenirs.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2022