THATTA: Sindh Chief Minster Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that the chief justice of Pakistan should be approached for the setting up of an impartial judicial commission that could hold a transparent inquiry into the Panama Papers revelations so that the nation could have a judgement beyond a shadow of a doubt as to who had actually plundered the national exchequer.

Speaking to the media at the residence of deceased PPP lawmaker Haji Usman Jalbani in Ghorabari town on Saturday after condoling with the bereaved family, the chief minister observed that the evidence of certain prominent figures of Pakistan having links with offshore companies had earned a bad name to the country. He said the matter must be investigated thoroughly by a commission essentially to be set up by the chief justice of Pakistan.

Mr Shah, however, made it clear that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would not necessarily support the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in its planned movement for the removal of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.

“The PPP firmly believes in the continuation and promotion of democracy. It’s committed to strengthening it at all costs,” he argued.

The chief minister also visited the bereaved families of several PPP activists who belonged to Buhara town of Thatta district and were killed in a road accident while they were on their way to Garhi Khuda Bukhsh Bhutto to attend the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto death anniversary programme held on April 4.

Speaking to the bereaved families, Mr Shah said that the PPP would always remember and value the sacrifices rendered by its workers and supporters. He said he was also conveying the grief and sorrow over the deaths on behalf of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Mr Shah, who is also the provincial president of the party, lauded the deceased activists’ commitment and services to the PPP and the country and appreciated the selfless services of Buhara UC chairman Haji Abdul Latif Soomro, former party chief in the town Haji Moro Soomro and prominent local party activists Haji Abubakr Soomro, Abdul Rehman Tunio and Sher Mohammed Dal.

Mr Shah announced a Rs200,000 assistance to be given by the party for each of the bereaved families. He promised that the deceased activists’ children would be given government jobs on a merit basis.

Later, speaking to the party activists gathered in the town during his visit, the chief minister said that the PPP would continue to take appropriate measures for the uplift of backward areas and improve the standard of life of these areas’ population on a priority basis. Besides, he said, his government was doing its utmost to provide all basic amenities and health and education facilities to the people of Sindh.

Senator Sassui Palijo, Industries Minister Mohammed Ali Malkani, former MNA Babu Ghulam Hussain, former MPAs Sadiq Ali Memon and Ghulam Qadir Palijo, Arbab Wazir Memon and other party leaders from Thatta and Sujawal districts accompanied the chief minister in his visit.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2016