Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that sustainable development is not possible without peace.
He was speaking as a special guest at the inaugural session of a two-day conference on the role and stability of parliament for peace and sustainable development in Pakistan, organised by the Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO) at a local hotel in Karachi.
Addressing the conference, the CM said, "If we look at the history, we find that extremism in our country began in the 1980s when martial law was established and democracy was sabotaged."
"Our government's sole objective was to bring peace in the country. We launched operation in Swat and after a lot of struggle and sacrifices, we managed to restore peace in the country, especially in Karachi," Shah said.
He said that after the tragedy of Army Public School in Peshawar, all the parties decided to work together against extremism and terrorism and a national action plan was formed.
"The job of the assemblies is to make laws, but I don't think the National Assembly is making laws and that is not the proper use of the house," he added.
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Prison reforms
CM Murad said that the provincial government has started converting prisons into reform centres by introducing different reforms with the objective to make the prisoners useful persons during their sentence period.
According to a handout the CM said this while handing over the control of the Prison Management Information System (PMIS) to the Department of Prisons.
PMIS allows audio and video call facility to prisoners while Queue Management System would also be introduced for visitors with preparation of biometric records.
The system has been jointly provided to the provincial government by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the US mission in Pakistan.
The CM said that the objective of bringing reforms in the prisons was to provide education and vocational training to prisoners so that after completion of sentence period, the prisoners could play their role in the society.
He said that the provincial government was making efforts to separate the habitual criminals from those who have been sentenced on charges of minor crimes in order to avert making the prisons nurseries of criminals. Among others, Advisor to Chief Minister on Prisons Mir Aijaz Jakhrani, Additional Chief Secretary Home Kazi Shahid Pervez, Consul General of US Consulate General in Karachi Mark Stroh and UNOD Crepresentative Jeremy Milson also addressed the participants of the ceremony.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2021.
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