DADU: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Monday that Pakistan Peoples Party leadership and the party’s governments had always took a principled stance against terrorism and religious extremism and sought unqualified action against terrorist outfits. He was talking to journalists at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar where he attended the ceremonies on the concluding day of the 766 annual urs on Monday. Regarding the attack on the Federal Interior Minister, he said a comprehensive inquiry should be held in the matter. Murad Ali Shah told the media that the province would announce the annual budget for the fiscal year 2018-19 on the 10th of May.He said that the federal government was responsible for the loss of lives of devotees en route the shrine during an accident on the Indus Highway. He said a scheme for construction of a double carriageway in the region had been delayed due to highhanded tactics of the federal government. The foundation stone for the construction of 130-kilometre Jamshoro-Sehwan road had been laid but still work was delayed due to the federal government’s lack of cooperation. “Sindh is the land of Sufis, and Sehwan is the city of saints. Whoever sets foot here is transported to the realm of mysticism and Qalandari.” Murad said that arrangements of the urs were undertaken with particular care to ensure that there was no untoward incident. Talking about the MQM, he said that the party had full permission to do its politics but the government would not allow anyone to indulge in terrorist acts. He said the MQM was afraid of the PPP after the latter held its public gathering at Liaqatabad. He said that every year, millions of devotees attended Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s urs celebrations and they come from all over the world. He said it was a daunting task to ensure satisfactory facilities for such a huge gathering, but the Sindh government was performing it with full zeal and fervor. Regarding unscheduled outages, he said that the Sindh government had approached the federal government for around the clock supply of electricity to Sehwan at least during the urs celebrations, but the federal government did not heed the request. Further, he said that after the tragic incident of suicide blast at Sehwan last year, security measures had been improved. About the water crisis in Sehwan, he said that steps were being taken for future planning to resolve water shortage in the area. He said that the PPP government was working to restore Manchhar lake. The CM said that the people wanted elections to be held on time, but few elements wanted there to be a delay. Provincial ministers Manzoor Wasan, Fyaz Ali Butt, Syed Ghulam Ali Shah, chief administrator Oqaf, Munwar Ali Mahisar, divisional commissioner Hyderabad Saeed Ahmed Magnijo, DIGP Javid Allam Otho, SSP Jamshoro Pervaiz Ahmed Umrani, Dc Jamshoro captin rtd Fareed Ddin Mustafa, PPP leaders Sikandar Rahpoto, Raees Amanu Llah Shahani were also present on the occasion. Published in Daily Times, May 8th 2018.