All is well: Amin Fahim, CM declare ceasefire over Tharparkar

CM calls Fahim to clarify that the government has not suspended his sons.

HYDERABAD/ KARACHI:

A senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP),Yousaf Raza Gilani, has played the role of mediator between Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) president MNA Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah.

Earlier, the two parties were blaming each other for the Tharparkar tragedy. Sources in the party told The Express Tribune that the chief minister called Fahim on Friday and clarified that the government has not suspended his sons, the deputy commissioner of Tharparkar, Makhdoom Aqeel uz Zaman, and the relief minister, Makhdoom Jameel uz Zaman.

Earlier, the CM had ordered to suspend the relief minister and the deputy commissioner. But no notification was issued in this connection. Talking to The Express Tribune, Waqar Mehdi, the special assistant to the chief minister, said, "No notification has yet been issued to remove the relief minister. The CM will not take back his portfolio," he said, adding that Jameel is on a 10-day leave and PPP leader Taj Haider is looking after the relief work in his absence. When asked about the suspension of Tharparkar DC, he said, "Aqeel Zaman has just been transferred not suspended."

Earlier, Fahim had held Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah responsible for the drought in Tharparkar. But, now Fahim no longer believes that Shah is to blame.

"Qaim Ali Shah is an upright person. Besides him, there are other leaders too in the party who have authority," he said, in a press conference in his hometown of Matiari district on Friday. His tone was relatively softer compared to the position he had adopted against Shah while talking to the media on his arrival in Matiari on Thursday evening. He also called off the strike of Sarwari Jamaat - an organisation of his family's spiritual followers.

The conflict between Fahim and the CM surfaced after the Sindh government held the sons of the PPP-P president responsible for allowing Tharparkar's drought to escalate.

"My sons haven't brought drought in Tharparkar as the media reports. Why don't the media take names of Arbabs, Shah Mehmood Shah and Pir Pagaro's supporters, who also get elected from Tharparkar?" he asked, blaming the media for naming his sons. "On the media's cry, Nawaz Sharif came to Tharparkar and gave Rs1 billion. Malik Riaz also came."

According to him, Aqeel Zaman had warned the Sindh government about the drought situation last December but the government failed to respond. On Thursday, Fahim denied that he is going to form a forward bloc of the PPP-P.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2014.