KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday inaugurated the Central Command & Control (CC&C) at the headquarters of Rescue 1122 – a comprehensive package of rescue, relief and rehabilitation – established with the support of the World Bank for emergency assistance for people affected by accidents and disasters.

Addressing the opening ceremony, he said the state-of-the-art CC&C had been established in Karachi to provide ambulatory services, fire services, urban search and rescue services, water rescue services through one number: 1122. “It’s the very first-time that a government-owned emergency rescue service is launched in the province,” he added.

Accompanied by his advisers Barrister Murtaza Wahab and Rasool Bux Chandio, the CM said that state-of-the-art medical health facilities had been established in four districts of Karachi and one in Larkana along with the set-up of rescue stations. “The Central Command & Control is established in Karachi for different rescue services through one number: 1122,” he said.

He said the Water Rescue Service would deal with the issues of urban flooding and a plan was under way to integrate police emergency service into Rescue 1122.

Says MQM-P is not a coalition partner in Sindh

“The 1122 service is working in the districts of Karachi, Larkana, Thatta, Sujawal, Qambar-Shahdadkot, and Hyderabad and it will be launched in Badin district within the next two days,” he said, adding that 12 districts would be added to Rescue 1122.

Mr Shah announced that the rescue service would also be established on main inter-city highways of the province after every 50km for which locations had already been identified where work was in progress.

The CM said the first batch of 107 cadets was provided with specialized rescue training from Punjab, and another batch of 315 cadets was under training. “These are purely technical positions,” he said and added the Rescue 1122 was modeled after successful emergency services elsewhere in Pakistan.

He said he himself had dialed 1122 from his mobile phone and lodged a complaint about a fire in the Sadar area and the operator asked him the location. “I have advised the Central Command and Control administration to update/upgrade the 1122 service software so that the location of the complainant could automatically start reflecting on the screen,” he said. In this way, fake complaints could automatically be identified, and the genuine ones would be addressed at the earliest without unnecessary queries.

Later, talking to media and responding to questions, the CM said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) was not a coalition partner of the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government in the province, but a good working relationship had been developed with them.

“MQM-P leaders have no issue with the provincial government, but one of them might have some reservations individually on which the media should not waste its time,” he added.

Answering another question, CM Shah said the Punjab governor under Article 130 (7) of the constitution had the power to call the assembly session for the chief minister to take a vote of confidence. “The objection made by the speaker on calling the session by the governor is not valid,” he added.

The CM advised his counterpart in Punjab to take the vote of confidence instead of going to the court of law. “The chief minister has to take a vote of confidence to show his majority,” he added.

Mr Shah said he had held a high-level meeting a day before, giving clear instructions to the law enforcement agencies to launch a vigorous operation against street criminals.

He said the citizens had lost their lives during the past two weeks while resisting muggings. “The police have made some arrests, he said, holding out assurance: “The killers will be brought to book at any cost.” Some of the habitual criminals had been released by the court for which he had directed his prosecutors to focus on investigation and made the cases strong, he said.

In reply to a question, the chief minister said Barrister Wahab, as an administrator of the KMC, worked hard. “Though he has no need of any official responsibility to serve the people, but he will be doing it as a party worker,” he added.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2022