Unhappy partner: PML-F to oppose local govt bill MQM wants
Coalition ministers unhappy with portfolios allocated by CM.
KARACHI:
An extremely unhappy Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) has expressed its reservations over the allocation of portfolios to its ministers and it has accused Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah of betraying his commitments.
On Wednesday, a press conference was held by PML-F leader Imtiaz Shaikh. He had to return the information technology ministry to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and was given charge of special education instead. The MQM recently rejoined the government as a coalition partner.
Thus, it came as no surprise to those who were listening, that Shaikh said that his party colleagues in the cabinet were also ruffled by the chief minister who had earlier promised them important ministries.
In response, they have decided to withdraw support for the local government system favoured by the MQM.
Indicating that all was not well among the coalition partners, Shaikh reiterated his party’s stand to support the commissionerate system whenever it is brought up in the Sindh Assembly. “We have once again conveyed to the government that PML-F will not support the local government system introduced by Pervez Musharraf,” he said. “We will vote against it, if the bill is moved.”
The rifts over the local government system have emerged as a potential threat to the fragile coalition government in Sindh. The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has brought back the system envisaged under the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001 to win back the MQM. But it has caused a crack in its own rank and file. Another coalition partner, the Awami National Party, is also opposed to SLGO 2001.
When his attention was drawn to reports circulating about a change of chief minister, Shaikh said: “I have no information regarding a government plan to remove Syed Qaim Ali Shah, but I hope President Asif Ali Zardari will take our party into confidence before making any change in Sindh.”
Performance
At the press conference Shaikh took the time to compare his three-month performance as IT minister to that of Reza Haroon of the MQM, who took it back on Wednesday.
He said he had wrapped up many IT projects that had been in the doldrums for the last three years. A new project that he said he started was a geographical information system to develop a database of different government departments before linking them to each other. The CM needs to approve the Rs2.45 billion project. If done, the system will allow people to easily update information for different departments.
Shaikh said that video conferencing system for the Sindh government had not been working well but he had personally taken the initiative of getting it up to speed. Work was accelerated on a number of schemes such as the IT City Project, e-policing and FM radio.
Shaikh talked about the rampant corruption in which people were able to get fake domicile and Permanent Residence Certificates in Sindh. In order to end it, he said his department had sent a summary to the chief minister to computerise these documents. “We have suggested handing over the system to Nadra so it works on the pattern of the CNIC and passports,” he said.
Shaikh said he had been contemplating an IT university in Karachi and in rural Sindh. “I hope the newly appointed minister will work on it,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2011.
An extremely unhappy Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) has expressed its reservations over the allocation of portfolios to its ministers and it has accused Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah of betraying his commitments.
On Wednesday, a press conference was held by PML-F leader Imtiaz Shaikh. He had to return the information technology ministry to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and was given charge of special education instead. The MQM recently rejoined the government as a coalition partner.
Thus, it came as no surprise to those who were listening, that Shaikh said that his party colleagues in the cabinet were also ruffled by the chief minister who had earlier promised them important ministries.
In response, they have decided to withdraw support for the local government system favoured by the MQM.
Indicating that all was not well among the coalition partners, Shaikh reiterated his party’s stand to support the commissionerate system whenever it is brought up in the Sindh Assembly. “We have once again conveyed to the government that PML-F will not support the local government system introduced by Pervez Musharraf,” he said. “We will vote against it, if the bill is moved.”
The rifts over the local government system have emerged as a potential threat to the fragile coalition government in Sindh. The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has brought back the system envisaged under the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001 to win back the MQM. But it has caused a crack in its own rank and file. Another coalition partner, the Awami National Party, is also opposed to SLGO 2001.
When his attention was drawn to reports circulating about a change of chief minister, Shaikh said: “I have no information regarding a government plan to remove Syed Qaim Ali Shah, but I hope President Asif Ali Zardari will take our party into confidence before making any change in Sindh.”
Performance
At the press conference Shaikh took the time to compare his three-month performance as IT minister to that of Reza Haroon of the MQM, who took it back on Wednesday.
He said he had wrapped up many IT projects that had been in the doldrums for the last three years. A new project that he said he started was a geographical information system to develop a database of different government departments before linking them to each other. The CM needs to approve the Rs2.45 billion project. If done, the system will allow people to easily update information for different departments.
Shaikh said that video conferencing system for the Sindh government had not been working well but he had personally taken the initiative of getting it up to speed. Work was accelerated on a number of schemes such as the IT City Project, e-policing and FM radio.
Shaikh talked about the rampant corruption in which people were able to get fake domicile and Permanent Residence Certificates in Sindh. In order to end it, he said his department had sent a summary to the chief minister to computerise these documents. “We have suggested handing over the system to Nadra so it works on the pattern of the CNIC and passports,” he said.
Shaikh said he had been contemplating an IT university in Karachi and in rural Sindh. “I hope the newly appointed minister will work on it,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2011.