KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that Sindh is our motherland and the people talking about its bifurcation are not only its enemies but they are the enemies of Pakistan. "This is a sensitive issue and I want to warn enemies of Pakistan don't play with Sindh, otherwise it would cause them costly."

This he said while addressing a comprehensive press conference in which he spoke at length on different issues, including development of Karachi and showed progress reports of his government through different slides on multimedia.

Shah said that some people were discussing such things which were constitutionally impossible. "The constitution talks about four provinces, and every province has its constitutional status, privileges and role but some people have started talking about extra-constitutional measures just to achieve their wishful thinking," he said and urged the media not to take such things seriously.

The CM said that some touts were talking about division of Sindh just to serve the purpose of India which wanted to divert public attention from atrocities in the held Kashmir. He said: "Karachi is the capital of Sindh and it has the honour of running the country economically- this is the pain which keeps disturbing some people," he said and added "Sindh is a single unit and its division in our lives is not possible."

Shah said that a meeting was held between him and Federal Minister Asad Ummar which was attended by provincial ministers, Syed Nasir Shah and Saeed Ghani and Chairman NDMA Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal were also present was aimed at discussing the issues of cleanliness of storm water drains and to complete those development works which have been left incomplete. "First of all the federal government was not inviting me in their meetings and now they have come down to Karachi to sit across the table to discuss the city of Karachi," he said and added the formation of a committee was discussed but no committee has been constituted yet.

"Yes, committees between two political parties are formed for political reasons- we are a political party and our doors are always open for dialogue," Shah said and added "if someone wants to talk to me on the issues of Karachi I would definitely welcome him."

The CM categorically said that he would follow the party [PPP] policies and our party's policies to follow the constitution of Pakistan." Shah said that the chairman NDMA had met him earlier to discuss cleanliness of storm water drains. He added that out of 38 nallas the NDMA was assigned to clean three nallas and the Sindh government cleaned 35 nallas and similar work of removal of sludge was still in progress. "When heavy rains wreak havoc in the city, the prime minister moved the NDMA to Karachi which is a good move," he said and added the NDMA was a federal organization and its job was to help the provincial governments at the time of disasters and natural calamities.

Murad Ali Shah said that the Mayor of Karachi himself said that the KMC and the Sindh government were jointly working to clean 38 nallas. When the NDMA witnessed the on-going work plan of the provincial government they also endorsed the provincial government to complete its cleanliness job. "The matter was taken up in the supreme court of Pakistan which assigned the task of cleanliness of nallas to NDMA," he said.

Devastation of rains: Murad Ali Shah said that it was not the first time the heavy downpour had submerged some parts of the city. He showed an old newspaper cutting of 1954 in which a vehicle was shown inundated in rain water on a street of Karachi. "Traditionally heavy rain have always been inundating various parts of Karachi but after 2008 the provincial government had taken numerous measures to dispose of rain water within few hours of it happening," he said.

The CM said that memory of our people was very week - "I am reminding you that in 2007 it had rained around 200 mm which had claimed 50 lives," he said and showed photographs on the screen of those days when almost the whole city was inundated and boats were sailing in low lying areas like Bath Island and other. He said the situation in the city was better considerably "but the solution of the situation lies in removal of encroachments emerged along the nallas," he said and again reminded that these encroachments had not occurred during PPP tenure, but sorry to say, nobody was raising a finger against them.

Shah said that where his government has made intervention in the shape of reconstruction of roads and stormwater drains, and constructed underpasses and flyovers, rain water disposed of within three to four hours and flow of traffic resumed within a few hours. He said that construction has emerged in Nazimabad [Green Line] against which the letters of the DMC central were on record but the concerned quarters put deaf ear towards them.

The chief minister reminded those who were in constant denial of the PPP performance that he reconstructed Jahangir Park, made Shahrah-e-Faisal a four-lane track where rain water did not stop.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020