KARACHI, March 22: The caretaker Chief Minister, retired Justice Zahid Kurban Alavi, said on Friday that he would form a small but effective cabinet early next week.

“My approach to maintenance of peace and order in the province for holding free and fair elections will be different from that of the previous government as I have affiliation with no political party,” said CM Alavi.

He said his cabinet would be formed by Monday or Tuesday.

He made these observations while speaking at a press conference with Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan at Governor House.

The governor and the caretaker CM jointly presided over a meeting to review the overall law and order situation in the province. Acting chief secretary Arif Ahmad Khan, Karachi police chief Ghulam Shabbir Shaikh and others were also present.

When his attention was drawn towards a 15-day deadline given to the provincial government by the Supreme Court to restore peace to the province, with particular reference to Karachi, the CM said: “We have initiated an action without any discrimination which will result in a visible change in the law and order situation.”Governor Ibad said on the occasion that the basic aim of the interim set-up was to hold free and fair elections in a peaceful manner, for which stability of law and order was necessary so that the people could freely exercise their right to vote.

He said the Supreme Court was hearing a case with regard to the law and order situation in Karachi.

“We reviewed the situation which called for an operation, as the biggest threat to the law and order situation was targeted killing,” he said, adding that the law-enforcement agencies had prevented 10 terrorism incidents, but all good work became meaningless if an incident like the Abbas Town bombing took place.

He said the citizens were concerned over the menace of targeted killings and law-enforcement agencies had already initiated an action and they were given necessary instructions to implement the directives of the apex court in letter and spirit and expedite their pace of action throughout the city.

He said the chief minister had issued directives to the law-enforcement agencies for launching a crackdown across the province, particularly in Karachi.

In reply to a question, the governor said there were no-go areas in the city as identified by the intelligence agencies and the government had reinforced the presence of the police and directed them to take all-out measures to enforce the writ of the government in such localities.

He also said the police had been told to enforce law not only on the weaker sections of society or the common man but equally treat every influential person if found involved in using tinted glasses, unregistered vehicles or indulged in pillion riding on motorcycles.

In reply to a question, the Karachi police chief said the law and order situation could only improve if politics was separated from crime. He said the law-enforcement agencies were after criminals.

He said arrested criminals took cover of political parties by telling their interrogators their party affiliation and the same was reported to the apex court.