His remarks come at a time when the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is preparing legislation on the commissionerate system, which it will have to push through given that its main coalition partner, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leans more towards the local government system introduced by former president Pervez Musharraf. The PPP would rather have a mayor than a nazim under the system of commissioners across the province.
While referring to Musharraf, the chief executive of the province said, “The decision to promulgate the local government ordinance of 2002 was a unilateral decision made by a dictator. The provincial governments were not consulted which is why the system has created problems in the province”.
He was speaking at Chief Minister House after former MNA Javed Shah Jillani of Pir Pagara’s Pakistan Muslim League-Functional joined the PPP. The press conference was attended by ministers Khurshid Shah, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and Ali Nawaz Shah.
The CM stressed that they would restore the commissionerate system and that the local government ordinance bill would have been passed long ago, had their coalition partners not taken time to work on it. The coalition in Sindh is formed by the PPP, MQM, PML-F and Awami National Party. The CM said that they had waited as they believed in taking everyone on board and in reconciliation, a policy they had been following for the last year and a half. One of the bones of contention is the delimitation of the districts across Sindh, a point that the PPP and MQM have locked horns over in the past. But when asked about whether they would restore the old status of different districts, including the crucial Karachi and Hyderabad, the chief minister just reiterated the safe line of all changes taking place “in consultation” with the coalition partners.
When asked about the Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST), the CM said that it was a federal government issue, but that they had achieved a milestone by securing the right to collect the general sales tax. “Now we will collect the tax on our own,” he said.
On the new addition to the party, the CM said that Jillani had left them some time ago. He said that Jillani, whose father was affiliated with the PPP, had had realised his mistake and his return to the PPP was a timely decision. For his part, Jillani said, “I promise I will not join another party again and will remain loyal to the PPP”.
IBA registrar
The media took the chance to speak to Khurshid Shah, a federal minister from Sukkur, about the attack on the Institute of Business Administration’s registrar Zahid Khand. Shah said that the people who were levelling allegations against him were involved in land grabbing. He said that they did not believe in the politics of “revenge” and the case was registered by the IBA. “I appeal to the chief justice of the Supreme Court to take suo moto action,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 26th, 2010.
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