Sindh LG ordinance: Khursheed Shah dispels rumours, says commissionary setup intact

Says police, revenue not handed over to metropolitan.

SUKKUR: Dispelling rumours pertaining to contents of the newly passed and challenged Sindh Peoples Government Ordinance (SPLGO) 2012, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Khursheed Shah Sunday stated that among other things, the commissionary setup was intact, as were the police and revenue departments.

Speaking to the media in Sukkur, the minister said it was all hype created by some, which was being followed by others, adding that the texts of the ordinance would soon be public.

“Read the details [of the ordinance], it is the same commissionary set-up and the same deputy commissioner,” said Shah.

Further dispelling rumours, he said: “They say police has been given to the metropolitan, but there is no such system,” adding that even the revenue department had not been handed over to the metropolitan corporations.

When questioned about talks with the irked Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leadership, Shah said that reconciliatory politics being a focus of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), bills, amendments and all acts were passed unanimously and after deliberation with the opposition.

He said that the bill would be discussed among the PML-N membership, adding that it was a very important one.

On the way nationalists were reacting and threatening of strikes, Shah said: “It is their right; we give them the right to shut doors, shops and routes.”

“Nationalists would participate in elections if the people trusted them so much,” he said, adding, “If 1,000 people come out and block roads, people won’t come out of their houses out of fear, throw four hand grenades, people won’t leave their homes.”

Shah said that if the nationalists were actually up to it, they should face the PPP in elections as that was where the actual message resides.

The ordinance, newly passed and more recently challenged in the Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry by a member of the City Alliance, has since its inception been the cause of a lot of disdain from the local governance.