'Sindh will not share power'

Sindh's administrative and governmental powers will not be shared with anyone, stated Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Monday.

He was addressing a press conference a day after it was reported that a committee would be formed comprising representatives from the city's three main stakeholders - the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan - to address the city's issues.

The development came after the CM, along with Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani and Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah, met Governor Imran Ismail, Federal Minister Asad Umar, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chairperson Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal in Islamabad.

"Some people are discussing things that are constitutionally impossible," said the CM during the press conference, referring to the political conversation surrounding Karachi's governance in recent days. "The Constitution mentions four provinces and every province has its constitutional status, privileges and role, but some people have started talking about extra-constitutional measures just to achieve their wishful thinking," he added, urging the media not to take such discussions seriously.

He claimed some quarters were bringing up the division of Sindh just to serve India's purposes and divert public attention from the atrocities in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

"Sindh is our motherland and those talking about its bifurcation are not only its enemies but also the enemies of Pakistan," the CM asserted, warning these 'enemies' against such 'costly' actions.

"Karachi is the capital of Sindh and it has the honour of running the country economically; this disturbs some people," he went on to say. "But Sindh is a single unit and its division will not be possible in our lifetime."

Confirming the earlier meeting in Islamabad, he said it had been meant to discuss the cleaning of Karachi's stormwater drains and the completion of pending development work, adding that while the formation of a committee to resolve Karachi's issues had been discussed, no such committee had yet been constituted.

The CM said he was asking the Centre to take ownership of Karachi since the city's people had elected PTI representatives, but instead, its members were talking about the fragmentation of Sindh. "The federal and provincial governments should work together because the governance system is interlinked."

Rain in Karachi

The CM further said the NDMA chairperson had earlier met him to discuss the cleaning of Karachi's stormwater drains, adding that the NDMA had been tasked with cleaning three nullahs in the city, while the Sindh government was in the process of cleaning 35 other major nullahs.

"When heavy rains wreaked havoc in the city, the prime minister ordered the NDMA to Karachi, which was a good move," he said, adding that the NDMA's job was to help the provincial governments during disasters and natural calamities.

He claimed that when the NDMA witnessed the Sindh government's work, it too endorsed the provincial government to complete the task of cleaning the nullahs. "The matter was then taken up in the Supreme Court, which assigned the task to the NDMA."

Holding up a newspaper cutting from 1954, showing flooding in Karachi, the CM added that this was not the first time that heavy rains had left parts of the city submerged. He claimed that after 2008, the Sindh government had taken numerous measures to drain rainwater within hours, further claiming that encroachments on the drains had not emerged during the PPP tenure.

Turning to PPP's performance, he said the government had invested Rs40 billion in the metropolis and more investment into the city's uplift was being done through donor agencies.