Replace Sindh CM, says Zardari’s aide

Proposes PPP stalwart Faryal Talpur for the position

HYDERABAD:

Ghulam Qadir Mari, who is said to be a close associate of Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, has called for the replacement of Syed Murad Ali Shah by Zardari’s sister, Faryal Talpur, as the chief minister (CM) of Sindh.

“If Benazir Bhutto and Indira Gandhi can run a country, adi [sister] Faryal can also run the CM office,” said Mari while addressing a press conference at his residence in Tando Allahyar.

He said the incumbent CM was “inefficient”.

“Shah is running the CM office through the Bajaris and Rahupotos,” he alleged. “He has placed three chairs in his office. He sits on one of them, while Bajari and Rahupoto sit on the other two. This is how he is running the affairs,” Mari said, adding that he kept receiving complaints in this regard.

Similar accusations have been repeatedly levelled against the CM by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Sindh chapter head MPA Haleem Adil Sheikh.

Sheikh has specifically accused Bajari for running a network of black money.

Mari said Talpur could also serve as the CM and head the CM office more efficiently.

He maintained that CM Shah avoided undertaking tasks of public interest and dedicated funds for development projects sparingly. He held the CM responsible for the lapse of development funds worth billions of rupees every year, alleging the CM of having no interest in uplift initiatives.

“Development projects are being delayed this way,” he said, adding he wasn’t able to understand why the CM was not taking an interest in work that was his office’s responsibility.

The idea of placing Talpur at the helm of affairs in the province has been floated many times earlier too.

However, in January this year, she denied that she was interested in running the CM office.

Mari is reportedly close to Zardari. He was allegedly picked up by unidentified men on April 7, 2017, when he was returning from Larkana. The Sindh Police’s Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) claimed of recovering him from Balochistan a month later on May 7. More than two weeks later, Zardari paid a visit to Mari House in Tando Allahyar.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2020.