PM assures nationalists of Centre’s role in resolving crisis in rural Sindh

  PM assures nationalists of Centre’s role in resolving crisis in rural Sindh KARACHI: Sindh's nationalist leaders and senior politician...

 

PM assures nationalists of Centre’s role in resolving crisis in rural Sindh

KARACHI: Sindh's nationalist leaders and senior politicians were guaranteed on Monday by Prime Minister Imran Khan of the Centre's cooperation in resolving a decades-old crisis in rural areas of the province held by the rival Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), according to political figures and sources.

The guarantee came during talks at Governor House, when he spent time with federal ministers, PTI MPs, leaders of allied parties, and other notable politicians in the province after performing the groundbreaking ceremony for the Karachi Circular Railway.

Ghous Ali Shah, the former chief minister of Sindh and a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), met with Prime Minister Imran Khan and declared his decision to join the PTI.

The declaration was made in a brief statement by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Karachi chapter, which did not go into depth about the talks that took place between the two parties. Ghouls'  Ali Shah was Sindh's chief minister from 1985 to 1988 under General Ziaul Haq's dictatorship, and then as the province's chief executive in 1999, while Nawaz Sharif was prime minister.

SUP voices misgivings about big housing schemes; Ghoul and Zafar join PTI

Syed Zafar Ali Shah, a former water and electricity minister, and Barrister Murtaza Masher joined the PTI as well.

It's safe to say that Zafar Ali Shah is an experienced politician with a shaky record of allegiance. After being elected to the two houses on the PML-N and PPP banners in various terms of the two parties, he served as a member of the National Assembly, Sindh Assembly deputy speaker and federal minister.

Syed Jalal Mehmoud Shah, chairman of the Sindh United Party (SUP), led a team to meet with the PM, and they talked about rapidly expanding housing complexes on the outskirts of Karachi that are displacing thousands of indigenous people.

Mr Shah told reporters outside Governor House after seeing the PM: "We have reminded him that big residential development projects without demographic and socioeconomic considerations are considered severe hazards." Ownership and land acquisition are clearly defined under the Constitution's Articles 172 and 173. Federal and provincial administrations occasionally break all restrictions by turning cultural and natural heritage sites into massive housing developments, though.

A joint investigation team (JIT) had also been requested by the SUP from the federal government, he said, in order to uncover "hidden hands" behind the June sabotage and arson attack on Bahria Town, which sabotaged the peaceful sit-in of Sindh Action Committee against a number of builders and the Sindh government.