Call for fairness: Accountability should be across the board: Khuhro

Claims one party being targeted in accountability’s name

KARACHI: Neither is the Sindh government afraid of accountability nor is it against it, but action should be across the board, said Sindh Information Minister Nisar Khuhro.

Addressing the ‘Meet the Editors’ programme held under the auspices of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) in Sukkur, Khuhro said that only one political party was being targeted in the name of accountability. “The Sindh government believes in complete accountability.”

He said that raising a hue and cry about corruption in Sindh was not fair because corruption was rampant in the Pakistan International Airlines, the Pakistan Steel Mills, the Pakistan Railways and all provincial and federal institutions. “There should be action against corruption in all the departments.”

The minister said that both the relevant laws and the institutions that could implement them exist. “We supported unpleasant decisions like establishment of military courts just for the sake of peace.”

He said the Sindh government took the lead in passing the Freedom of Information Act during its previous tenure and now it was revising it to make improvements. “The draft will be approved by the provincial cabinet and then tabled on the floor of the house.”

The provincial government would seek guidance and advice from the CPNE about the proposed law, he added.

Khuhro also said merit would be the only criterion for releasing advertisements and no newspaper organisation would be abandoned to shut down because of financial crisis.

Welcoming the minister earlier, CPNE Secretary Dr Jabbar Khattak demanded that the old dues of the newspapers be paid to save newspaper organisations from collapse. Acting CPNE president Khushnood Ali Khan thanked the minister for attending the event.

A large number of editors, including Hamid Hussain Abidi, Aamir Mehmud, Qazi Asad Abid, Prof SB Hasan, Tahir Najmi and Bilqees Jahan, were present on the occasion. (TRANSLATION BY ARSHAD SHAHEEN)

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1st, 2015.