May 9 situation was a planned conspiracy: Sinch CM

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that there is a clear split in Supreme Court, and we want SC to abide by the constitution and hope that the court would understand the gravity of the situation that emerged after the arrest of Imran Khan in which defence and civil installations were attacked.

This he said while talking to the media after inaugurating the Sindh Institute of Advance Endoscopy & Gastroenterology (SIAG) at the Civil Hospital, Karachi.

Shah said that the split among the Supreme Court judges has a deep root-cause which led to extra-constitutional decisions by the court. As a result, a crisis-like situation has emerged.

The CM said that the law-and-order situation was created under a planned conspiracy on May 9, 2023. “What happened in Karachi was less than the cities in other provinces. Sharea Faisal was giving a battleground look where a Rangers check post, a police mobile, Peoples Bus, two water board bowsers and tyres were torched apart from damaging other public and private properties,” he recalled.

He said that the culprits involved in violence and arson have been identified through CCTV. Some of them have been arrested while many others have gone underground but we’ll bring them to book.

Shah said that the miscreants not only attacked the Jinnah House [now Corps commander House- Lahore] and set it on fire. They also burnt the memorial warplane through which M.M Alam had set a world record of shooting down five Indian planes in 1965 war.

Earlier, at the Inauguration of the Sindh Institute of Advance Endoscopy & Gastroenterology (SIAG) at Civil Hospital, the CM congratulated Prof Saad Khalid Niaz and his team for achieving this historic milestone in the field of advanced endoscopy. He also thanked the philanthropists who supported the project.

The CM said that the allocation of funds by the Sindh government along with support from philanthropists has paved the way for the development of the Sindh Institute of Advance Endoscopy and Gastroenterology, SIAG.

He said that these services were launched in 2006 in Surgical Ward 4 and now have finally converted into the first-ever Advance Endoscopy facility providing high-quality services in the province and the whole country.

According to the CM, the SIAG offers the world’s best services with the latest equipment. It has also introduced the treatment of pancreatic stones through a dedicated ESWL machine for the first time in Pakistan and second in the region.

Shah added that SIAG would provide treatment through a state-of-the-art facility, extend such services to other districts like NICVD, and train the future generation of endoscopists.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said that the Services Hospital was underutilised, and its space could be used for the expansion of the Civil Hospital’s OPD and other facilities.

Executive Director Prof Saad Khalid Niaz said that after the CM a fund of Rs200 million for the institute and the work was started. “Since the building was old and heritage, therefore it caused serious problems in its renovation,” he recalled and added he again contacted the CM for financial assistance, and he approved andother Rs400 million.

Architect Shahid Abdullah said he had a plan to renovate the entire Civil Hospital Building.

Vice Chancellor Dow University took up the issue of improving, renovating, and overhauling the Civil Hospital.

Earlier, the CM after inaugurating the institute, visited the facility.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2023.