PPP Sindh Council has confidence in CM

KARACHI:

The Sindh government’s blunder in Tharparkar and the consequent deaths of more than 100 children has yet to dent its popularity within the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) ranks.

In the PPP Sindh Council meeting on Thursday, the members expressed their confidence in the chief minister to lead the province. This reassurance comes at a time when Qaim Ali Shah is facing pressure from all quarters to resign. The members did, however, criticise the relevant ministers for failing to resolve the problems of the people.

Thursday’s meeting was chaired by Shah, who is also the president of PPP Sindh, at CM House, and was attended by PPP district presidents and other office bearers. “Most of the ministers do not pay heed to our problems,” complained one member. “They neither come to office nor attend our phone calls.” The members agreed that negligence in Tharparkar has badly damaged the credibility of the incumbent government and action must be taken against these ministers.

The meeting was convened to review arrangements for the 35th death anniversary of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto that falls on April 4 but it turned into a saga of allegations and clarifications in the wake of the Tharparkar tragedy and the unrest in Lyari.  The meeting became intense when katchi abadis minister Javed Nagori, who won the provincial assembly seat from Lyari, protested the violence in Lyari and expressed his reservations on the Karachi operation.

“The ongoing operation in Karachi is fruitless,” he claimed. He wanted to know why the police and Rangers are keeping mum over the identities of those who are killing and kidnapping people.

Shah and other members tried to calm him down but Nagori insisted on blaming his own government and the law enforcers.

The members were also concerned about the allegations made by the Makhdoom family and his Sarwari Jamaat against the chief minister. Later, a resolution was adopted to laud the services rendered by the chief minister in dealing with the Tharparkar incident.

PPP Sindh information secretary Waqar Mehdi said that almost all the members of the council were satisfied with the performance of the provincial government. On Nagori’s grievances, he said: “There is democracy and members have a right to press their viewpoint.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2014.