Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that there should be a thorough inquiry into Panama Leaks but the decision to besiege Nawaz Sharif's house is against political norms and ethics. This he said while talking to media after performing inauguration ceremony of Computerisation of Land Record at Revenue Office Clifton, here on Tuesday.
He said: "Panama Leaks or I must call it scandal should probed thoroughly to dig out the facts but it doesn't mean to destabilise the system and democracy, " he said. "The scandal is being debated in the National Assembly. It would be a wrong tradition to besiege the house {Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif}, political issues must be handled politically not personally," he advised. To a question, the chief minister said that PPP leadership had rendered lot of sacrifices for democracy, Shaheed Bhutto was hanged, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. "We have paid a heavy price for saving and restoring democracy," he said and added PPP would not allow anybody to derail the system.
To another question, he said opposition cannot remove prime minister through no confidence motion. The PML-N has majority in the National Assembly, so it is not possible to get him pack up through no confidence motion, he added. Earlier, the chief minister while addressing the launching ceremony of computerised land record said that people used to forge land record. "After Computerisation it cannot be tempered and it has protected the record of rights," he said and added that with computerised system the harassment by patwaris has come to an end. "I hope they {patwaris} would not go on strike as the new system has stopped their business of minting illegal money," he said in a lighter mood.
He said that this is the beginning of new era of transparency, corruption free environment and improved public service delivery which is very close to the heart of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto whose vision has been transferred into a reality.
Pointing towards DG NAB, who was sitting with him on the stage, Syed Qaim Ali Shah said the NAB was running revenue officers from pillar to post for one or other illegality but now Computerisation of Land Record has not only reduced the work of NAB but has given relief to revenue officers.
During the visit of Service Centre the chief minister punched his name in the computer system and got certified copy of his five acre land located in Khairpur. Senior Member Board of Revenue Rizwan Memon and concerned Member BOR Zulfikar Shah took the chief minister around and showed him their entire establishment and servers. Briefing the chief minister, Rizwan Memon said that it was a centralised system. Khatidars can get their computerised certified copies of their land from any service centre.
He said that the project was conceived by former President Asif Zardari during his tenure and it has been completed at a cost of Rs 4.59 billion. It has taken 4.5 years to computerise 4.5 million entries of Form 7-A, 7-B, Form-2 and others. Member BoR Zulfikar Shah while briefing the chief minister said that 90 percent of total land record had been computerised. The remaining record, which was burnt during the Shahadat of Benazir Bhutto is also being reconstructed and would be computerised.
He said that Sindh was the first province in the country which has introduced the search of Land Record on mobile phones also. "Starting from Karachi the BOR is replacing outdated microfilming technology for saving registration deeds with modern digital scanning unit. This means that registration documents would now be delivered back to the people within three days instead of six month," he added that this facility would be extended to rest of the province by the end 2016.
Member BoR Zulfikar Shah said that on the instructions of the chief minister the task of automation of all sub-registrar office has been assigned to NADRA, which would be completed by June 2017. The Task of introducing Electronic Stamps (E-stamps) has also been given to NADRA which would be completed by June 2016. Zulfikar Shah said that Sindh government being first in Pakistan, is also linking maps with land record, 60 percent of which has been completed while the remaining work would be done by December 2016. Syed Qaim Ali Shah while appreciated the BoR efforts.