New Sindh Assembly Building: government razes foundation stone laid by former chief minister Sindh

The foundation stone of New Sindh Assembly Building laid by the previous PML-Q led government at Assembly Secretariat has been demolished by the present government, as President Asif Ali Zardari is all set to reopen work on the long-awaited Rs 1.85 billion project on Independence Day.
Terming it as "unnecessary" the PML-Q members in Sindh Assembly believed that the move was motivated by the present PPP-led government's vendetta towards the former Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim. To the PML-Q leaders it was the inscription and not the monument, which had motivated the government to go for the demolition.
"It is because of the anti-Arbab feelings harbored by the present government... if somebody else's, even (former) President Musharraf's, name was inscribed there they would not have demolished it," Muhammad Shaharyar Khan Mahar told Business Recorder.
According to sources the concrete-made monument, inscribed with the name of the former chief minister of Sindh, was demolished last Sunday, just five days before August 14, the national Independence Day, when President Zardari would undertake groundbreaking of the New Assembly Building, the foundation stone of which was once laid by Dr Arbab.
The demolition had been carried out most probably by the Assembly staff or those from PWD on the directives of Speaker Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, they claimed.
The sources said apparently the move seemed part of the "arrangements", being made by a 16-member committee, formed by Secretary Sindh Assembly Hadi Bux Buriro, in line with the fast approaching groundbreaking ceremony on Independence Day.
According to sources the government had named the ceremony as "groundbreaking" only to hide the fact that construction work on the long-delayed project had already been initiated by the former chief minister, a concrete proof of which, the foundation stone, had been wrecked just last Sunday. Speaker Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro, however, rejects the impression that the move was politically motivated.
"We demolished that (foundation stone) because we have to construct a new building," the PPP leader told Business Recorder while commenting on the issue. He said the monument had been placed in a safer place and would be installed at a suitable site in the new building after its completion.
"As it is a thing worth preserving, we have preserved it and would place it at any appropriate place when the building is ready," Khuhro clarified. PML-Q, however, does not buy the speaker's argument and said it was not "necessary" to remove the memorial as no good work of a government should be nullified.
Mahar also cast doubt in the long-awaited homecoming of Dr Arbab, saying there must be something, which was stopping his self-exiled leader from coming back to Pakistan. "He still feels threatened to come back... there must be something to stop him," he claimed.
Meanwhile, a high-level meeting comprising heads of the law enforcement agencies, like IG and DIG police Sindh, CCPO Karachi etc, was chaired by Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza at Sindh Assembly on Tuesday. The meeting reviewed security and other arrangements for the groundbreaking ceremony that, the sources said, would be attended by Governor and Chief Minister Sindh, federal and provincial ministers, MPAs, chief ministers from other provinces and other notables.
Further, according to an official statement Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah also on Tuesday visited the site of the New Building, which would be completed in three years. Flanked by Senior Minister Pir Mazharul Haq, Home Minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza, Law Minister Ayaz Soomro, Sindh Works and Services Minister Manzoor Wasan, MPA Munawar Abbasi and others, the chief minister was briefed by Khuhro about the necessary arrangements for the ceremony and the facilities to be provided in the new premises, it added.
Deputy Speaker Sindh Assembly Shehla Raza, IG Police Sindh Babar Khattak, CCPO Karachi Waseem Ahmed, DIG Police South Ghulam Nabi Memon, Secretary Works and Services Mukhtiar Soomro and Secretary to CM Sohail Akbar Shah were also present on the occasion.