Right-sizing: Major shake-up likely in Sindh cabinet

KARACHI:

The authorities in Sindh have decided in principle to reshuffle the provincial cabinet in different phases starting from April 5, well-placed sources told the Daily Express on Saturday.

Several portfolios are expected to change hands, while a few ministers could also be eased out. A formal decision to this effect is likely to be taken on Tuesday.

According to sources, Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza is expected to step down from his post. And the portfolios of Senior Minister Pir Mazharul Haq, Food Minister Mir Nadir Magsi, Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani and Revenue Minister Jam Mehtab Dhar are likely to be switched.

Three provincial ministers, Tauqir Fatima, Nargis ND Khan and Rafiq Engineer, who hold the portfolios of women development, social welfare and katchchi abadis, are likely to  be replaced, according to party sources.

The portfolios of Irrigation Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo and Agriculture Minister Syed Ali Nawaz Shah Rizvi are likely to be switched.

The sources said that the co-chairperson of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party and President Asif Ali Zardari had dropped broad hints about the expected reshuffle in the Sindh cabinet during a recent visit of the PPP leaders to Islamabad.

According to the sources, Jam Mehtab Dhar is likely to be assigned the ministry of education. And Agha Siraj Durrani is expected to take over the home ministry.

The proposed installation of Durrani as home minister has a lot to do with a junior coalition partner’s reservations about the manner in which he was handling the ministry for local government.

A new minister may be inducted into the provincial cabinet to oversee the affairs of the information ministry because Taj Haider cannot attend the provincial cabinet meetings in his capacity as media coordinator of the government.

Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, who also heads the provincial ministries of forestry and jails, has already offered to quit in the interest of broader reconciliation with different coalition parties. The party leadership is expected to assign him an important role in connection with the party’s reorganisation.

The 18th constitutional amendment, recently cleared by parliament, has slapped a ban on the number of government advisers. Therefore, the induction of a new adviser into the provincial cabinet is highly unlikely, the sources said.

However, sources said, that if an adviser is assigned to the ministry of information, then a provincial adviser belonging to Karachi would probably be fired.

Sources said that the reshuffle in the provincial cabinet has been deferred for a couple of days due to the death anniversary of the PPP founding chairperson Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on April 4.

Bhutto was executed on April 4, 1979 during the dictatorial regime of the then military ruler General Ziaul Haq. He was convicted and sentenced to death by the Lahore High Court and later the Supreme Court had also upheld the verdict.

On Saturday the government filed a reference in the apex court pleading that the court revisit what it termed as the ‘judicial murder’ of Bhutto.

The sources said that some top PPP leaders have proposed that, like the federal cabinet, the Sindh cabinet should also be ‘right-sized’ in compliance with the 18th amendment.

The proposal has been given to cut government expenditures and bridge the budget deficit on the one hand and to address people’s concerns about the size of the cabinet.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 03^rd, 2011.