Annoyed by the Sindh Chief Minister's statement, the City Nazim, Naimatullah Khan has finally declined to go on any foreign tour during his tenure. In a strong protest to the CM's statement in which he alleged the city Nazim that he went on such foreign trips only for "Sair Sapata" (enjoyment), the Nazim also returned the NOC issued by the CM to him for attending "Euro Asian International Seminar on Better-Structured Decentralised Co-operation for Urban Projects in Asia Using Bilateral & Multilateral Public Aid" being held on November 18 and 19 at Lyon, France.
The City Nazim informed the Sindh chief minister of his decision through a letter written to him on Thursday. He mentioned that he was not attending the conference on the NOC issued by the CM as his public statement made it controversial and further assured him that he would not bother the CM for any NOC during his tenure as Nazim of Karachi.
Highlighting the significance of the conference he termed it as an epoch making event and pointed out that the seminar would have gone a long way in providing a collaborative platform for further projects of Karachi as it would have provided Karachi with a chance to obtain long term funding, technical assistance and project financing for various mega-projects from European countries and international donor agencies like World Bank, ADB etc.
He also referred to the statement of the CM published in local newspapers in which he alleged that the Nazim had already made 36 foreign tours so far and that he would not be issued any such NOC by the Sindh government in future. Naimtaullah, defending his foreign tours stated that he made all these trips in a bid to attract foreign investment/ funding in the development projects of the city without burdening a single penny on the city or provincial government's exchequer.
It should be recalled that the Nazim was scheduled to fly Islamabad on Thursday to hold an important meeting on Karachi Mass Transit Project with the President Musharraf where he might also find the opportunity to take up the controversial issue arose from the CM's statement.