Sindh will not accept unilateral decisions on IGP: Ghani

Minister lambasts Centre for consultations with federal cabinet, opposition

The Sindh government will not accept any unilateral decisions made by the Centre regarding the appointment of a new provincial Inspector General of Police (IGP), maintained Sindh Information and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani.

He was talking to the media at Wassan House in Khairpur on Friday, after condoling with Nawab Wassan, the chief minister's special assistant on the Benazir Housing Cell, on the demise of his mother.

Claiming that the application of a new trend was being attempted through consultations with the opposition party and the Grand Democratic Alliance regarding the IGP's appointment, the minister stated that the Sindh government would never accept it.

"In December, Prime Minister Imran Khan did agree to replace the Sindh IGP [Dr Kaleem Imam], but his promise did not come true," asserted Ghani. He added that it was "not a good message" for Sindh that the prime minister took the matter to the federal cabinet.

Education and health

Asked about education, health and unemployment, Ghani said that the problems existed throughout the country and it was "inappropriate" to target the Sindh government about them. He further said that the policies of the federal government had worsened the economic situation of the country, and Sindh too was feeling the effects.

According to him, the federal government had released less funds to Sindh than its share in the previous annual budget, due to which projects in the province had suffered.

"The Sindh government has started a survey of schools in the province, through which we identified that there are only 9,000 schools out of 42,000 where the enrolment ratio is 80 per cent," he disclosed, adding that these schools were being fully facilitated by the provincial government.

The minister further said that 100 schools in Sindh were being upgraded as part of a USAID programme.

Regarding healthcare, he claimed that expensive treatment was provided free of cost to citizens at facilities such as the National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and even the liver transplantation facility in Gambat taluka, where 100 liver transplants had been carried out to date.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2020.