KARACHI, Nov 17: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad has said that a new chapter has been included in the country’s political history with the completion of five-year tenure of the provincial assembly.

Credit for all this went to President General Pervez Musharraf who made it possible, said the governor while speaking at the dinner hosted in honour of the outgoing provincial cabinet at the Governor’s House on Friday night.

Dr Ibad said no assembly had ever completed its term as they used to be packed up quite often in 24 to 30 months and sometimes within 18 months.

Despite all sorts of rumours spread by the opposition, people were not taking to the streets because the government had delivered in various fields, he said and claimed that the sense of deprivation, once prevailed among the downtrodden in Sindh, had started receding gradually because development projects worth billions of rupees had been completed during the last few years.

Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim said the record of the Sindh assembly had not remained very good due to political groupings although the past assemblies used to pay the price for the mistakes and follies of the rulers in the centre. He said, “… now credit goes to Gen Musharraf and his uniform that the present government and the assembly was setting a good tradition.”

Despite some differences which were but natural in a coalition government, the government delivered, he said and appreciated the important role played by the governor in creating harmony among the coalition partners.

The chief minister conceded that the government could not deliver much in some sectors only because the past governments had never paid any heed to carry out development work.

Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah said that the assembly by completing its tenure strengthened democracy in the country.

Senior Minister Syed Sardar Ahmad said Sindh that used to have a deficit budget in the past had been having a surplus budget for the last couple of years with billion of rupees earmarked for development projects.