KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Monday that Sindh was the land of Sufis, and it had remained under the influence of saintly figures like Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Sachal Sarmast, Lal Shahbaz Qaladaner and others.
“The people of this province believe in coexistence and they don’t get embroiled in religio-sectarian considerations,” he said, adding, “This is why not a single terrorist has emerged from this land so far though it has been infiltrated by extremists and fanatics who came here after the Afghan war.”
CM Shah was addressing a 50-member delegation of faculty members and student-officers of Command and Staff College Quetta which called on him here at CM House.
Shah said that the province of Sindh had suffered a lot at the hands of dictators. “General Zia’s flawed policies led to migration of over a million Afghan nationals to Sindh. As a result of his policies, heroin and Kalashnikov also came to the province and badly destroyed its peaceful and plural social fabric,” He said, adding that it was these policies that led to sectarian and linguistic divisions among the people.
“The law and order in the whole province became so precarious that Karachi turned into no-go areas and in the rest of Sindh came under control of dacoits,” the CM said, adding that the highways were unsafe to travel and kidnapping for ransom had become order of the day. “In Karachi different gangs, terrorists and out-laws had challenged the state. Kidnapping for ransom, target killing, extortion and terrorism tore apart the socio-economic fabric of the city,” he recalled.
Shah said that the successive governments launched some cleanup operations in the city but no operation could produce long-lasting results. He added that the policemen who had participated in the operations were killed when the operations were called off. The police force lost their confidence and morale to perform, therefore their efficiency got affected.
“The Sindh government with its political will and support of people of Karachi then started targeted operation and fixed two-decade old problems. “Law enforcement agencies worked hard and made bloodless targeted operation successful,” he said. He went on to say that his government had made recruitments in the police purely on merit, developed their capacity by giving them special trainings conducted by Pakistan Army officers, enhanced their salaries, equipped them with latest weapons and compensation for the families of those who lose their lives in the line of duty. He added that these measures had resulted in improvements in the policing system.
Talking about his development efforts, the Chief Minister said that after restoration of peace he has given special focus to the development of infrastructure in Karachi, Hyderabad and other districts. “Sindh is the only province in the country which has constructed two bridges on the River Indus,” he said and added that the third one would be built on the River Indus at Kandhkot-Ghotki.
He said that 80-year old drainage lines have been replaced in Saddar, storms water drains have been reconstructed, underpasses and bridges are being built, apart from attracting investment in the province so that employment opportunities could be generated.
Shah briefed the visiting army officers about the efforts of his government in health and education and for poverty alleviation. He said PPP had developed a new political culture of co-existence and ‘we have never victimized any political opponent’.
Published in Daily Times, April 3rd 2018.