The appointment of Suhail Anwar Sial, reportedly a close aide of Faryal Talpur, sister of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, as Home Minister Sindh has baffled analysts. Sial was working as a co-ordinator to Faryal Talpur, a position akin to personal secretary, and sources maintained that Talpur played a key role in his appointment as the home minister.
Sial is inexperienced and is unlikely to take any proactive decision to usher in an era of the needed reforms in Sindh police without approval of those who appointed him and may well delay the implementation of decisions taken by the apex committee, wherein the main decision makers is clearly the establishment, analysts further maintained. A senior politician, who wished not to be named, argued that by appointing Sial to the important office, Asif Zardari avenged those who were pressing for appointing a full-time home minister. He added that it was similar to replacing former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani with Raja Pervez Ashraf and had the latter been removed by the apex court as well Zardari was all set to appoint Mehreen Anwar Raja as the next premier.
The appointment of Sial was not welcomed by any political party in the province. Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) regretted the decision of the PPP leadership to handpick a "little known" person. "It is understood that it [PPP] is not a political party but a limited company led by Asif Ali Zardari. The person who has been chosen for home minister's slot is neither fit for the job nor is well known in the political circles," Mashhadi deplored. Mashhadi added that the PPP does not bother to consult those with considerable stake in the province let alone the military establishment, which is engaged in safeguarding the future of this country by wiping out the menace of terrorism.
Willfulness is reflected in decisions taken by the top PPP leadership which is inappropriate given that the city has been hijacked by terrorists, criminals and land mafias, and to effectively tackle these menaces political will and unity is the need of the hour. He criticised the ongoing operation in Karachi, saying it has failed to produce the desired results because it is politically motivated and the focus is somewhere else. "Had the focus been on cleansing the city of militants and banned outfits, the innocent Ismaili Muslims and other peaceful citizens would not have been killed," he lamented.
Humayun Mohammad Khan, a PML-N member of the Sindh Assembly, said of Sial's appointment: "we can only pray to Allah to protect the people of Sindh especially Karachi." "I hardly knew him as he was a member of the provincial assembly and as far as his political contribution is concerned, you people [journalists] can better enlighten us," he said when asked about Sial's political stature.
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