Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad has said that after 1979 when the world policies saw a series of changes, the country did not mend its policies accordingly and went into isolation in the comity of world nations.
He said this resulted in our projection in the isolation and now is the time to take corrective measures to race along other world nations and this is what the present leadership in Pakistan is doing.
He made these observations while talking to the newly-elected and outgoing office-bearers and other members of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) at a luncheon hosted by him to felicitate them at the Governor House here on Wednesday.
The governor spoke at length on national issues related to local government elections and law and order situation. Ibad said the world has shrunk and the people are coming out of their boundaries to race with the time.
"We, too, will have to come out of our frontiers as we cannot do anything by sitting within and pursue the policies which may not take us to the path of isolation."
Referring to the conditions at home, he referred to the first phase of local government polls and said these passed off peacefully and smoothly in Sindh and hopefully, the same would be repeated in the second phase.
He recalled that a hype was created that something very serious is going to happen, especially in Karachi. But, he said, he was the only person in Pakistan who would say that nothing would happen and after completion of the elections, all such fears and apprehensions have also faded away.
He said the perception created was rationally analysed and had a calculation of chances involved in such conditions.
The governor said so much was reported in newspapers that it did bring a pause in the investment inflow. He said that when any such situation builds up in Karachi it does affect the entire country.
But contrary to what was being said, only 14 incidents, including four in Karachi, took place during the first phase of elections. Of these 14 incidents, four related to aerial firing in which the culprits were arrested on the spot, while rest of the incidents was minor in nature.
He said that the city of Karachi has expanded so much that it is not possible to deploy personnel of the law-enforcement agencies at every corner of a street. Still very effective arrangements had been made to monitor the situation.
Ibad said that the turnout of voters during the first phase of local government elections remained around 45-46 percent. A salient feature of the elections was that the people had rejected the extremists and elected the moderates.
He said an allegation was levelled that polling stations were occupied and forced rigging was carried out.
But he said the media teams were present everywhere and if anything of this sort had occurred anywhere, the same would have been reported in the media.
He said only two cases occurred in which concerned presiding officers were caught and ballot boxes with rigged ballot papers were seized.
He said there were 3,700 polling stations, but complaint was received from only one polling station.
The governor said that incidents like those of 7/7 in London has harmed Pakistan's image, but in the elections the opinion expressed by the people was that they are opposed to extremism and want moderation to prevail.
To a question, he said that from the security point of view, Karachi comes into limelight because of its international status, otherwise security had been strict across the country to conduct polls in a peaceful manner. To another question about crackdown on newspapers and hawkers and printing presses, the governor said although hawkers were picked up, there had been a straight away response to the action taken and they were released. They were picked up because the prohibited material was on the roads.
Similarly, the matter regarding printing presses was also reviewed and the sealed presses were reopened.
He said the law and order situation has significantly improved in Sindh, especially in Karachi. He said this is not just a claim, but it is based on ground realities.
He cited the examples of Nooriabad where a number of industrial units in one-and-a-half-year rose from a few to 61. He said that in Site area where industrialists used to think about winding up their business or shift their industries were now carrying out expansion work. Similarly, housing industry, which was in a stalemate, has revived and this activated 43 other downstream industries as well, resulting in the creation of job opportunities.
The governor said this shows a remarkable change in the conditions accompanied by investment inflow. Speaking about the role of Madressah, he said that for every act of extremism and terrorism, the Madressah could not be blamed. He said that out of the number of terrorists apprehended, only 23 percent had connections with Madressah.
He said the Madressah should provide opportunities of both religious and modern knowledge so that the people after graduation could play their due role in the mainstream.
Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister on Information Salahuddin Hyder, Sindh Chief Secretary Fazlur Rehman, Principal Secretary Saleem Khan, Information Secretary Fasihuddin and IG Police Asad Jehangir were also present on the occasion.
At the outset, the governor described the incident which took place prior to the press conference of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at the Governor House on Sunday as regrettable and said it should not have taken place. However, immediate action was taken against the concerned official.
The newspaper editors requested the governor to forgive the concerned protocol officer. The governor responded positively to their request and ordered withdrawal of suspension order of the protocol officer. The governor was appreciated for peaceful conduct of the elections. The governor also felicitated the newly-elected office-bearers of the CPNE.