HYDERABAD: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan could not be blamed for not taking along the Sindh government, arguing that he himself made several offers to the provincial government in this regard but did not get any positive response.

He was speaking to the media at the circuit house here on Tuesday after visiting proposed sites for the establishment of a federal university. He also visited the under-construction Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah University in Gulistan-i-Sarmast. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf parliamentary party leader in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Shaikh, MNA Nuzhat Pathan, MPA Jamal Siddiqui and others accompanied the governor.

“The PM has tried his level best to take along the Sindh government for a working relationship. Despite all political differences, he had called on the chief minister but we [PTI] didn’t get any positive response. I wish the Sindh government gives a positive response,” he said.

Governor to submit report on varsity site to PM on 12th

Advising the Sindh government to keep personal matters and inquiries [into corruption] separate, he said the pending inquiries should not be linked with the projects being announced by the PTI government.

He made it clear that those institutions were working without any interference by the federal government, and expressed his confidence that the inquiries would be completed. “It will be better not to mix up the two issues,” he added.

He complained that the PM had recently announced a Rs162 billion package but instead of appreciating this, the gesture got flak from the Sindh government and even it was hinted that these projects would not be allowed [to be executed]. “How can you do that?”, he asked apparently referring to statements of some Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders.

He insisted that it was the prime minister’s prerogative to get federal projects executed anywhere in the country, arguing that these projects were not person- or party-specific. “And by the way, nobody can block these projects,” he said.

Selection of site for varsity

Governor Ismail said he visited different sites for the federal university in Hyderabad and would submit his report to the PM on Friday (April 12) in a meeting with him. He said that federal government was offered the under-construction Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah University. “Another piece of land adjacent to it belongs to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and another site is located in Kohsar which was chosen two years back in consultation with the local leadership of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). I wish that the option of Bahria University [Fatima Jinnah University] should be preferred,” he said.

He was of the view that it would be easier to inaugurate the proposed university within the next six to eight months after completing the leftover construction work.

Regarding the CAA land, he said it could be used for developing an “education city” like in Jamshoro, where there were several universities and campuses.

He noted that Hyderabad did not have a public sector university despite the fact that it was Sindh’s second largest city. “It’s great injustice,” he remarked.

The governor said that the PM wanted to see at least one university in every district.

He disagreed with a questioner that by taking over the CAA land, PTI government wanted to shut down the Hyderabad airport. He explained that the proposed land next to Fatima Jinnah University was far away from the airport.

He said that the PIA was seriously considering operation of passenger and cargo flights from Hyderabad for Jeddah and Dubai. “The Civil Aviation Training Institute (CATI) is one of world’s best training facilities which needs revival so that foreign students could get technical education here. Secondly, the land could be easily acquired from CAA because I don’t see Sindh government coming forward to offer the required land. That’s why the federal institution has been approached,” said the governor.

He dispelled the impression that under the Constitution, the federal government was required to coordinate with a province for establishing a university. He said the federal government needed cooperation, and not money, from the provincial government for the purpose. He said Sindh government could share and discuss its proposals on land with the federal government.

“I will submit a detailed report on legal standing of the under-construction university and I also see no harm in opting for this offer which will save time. Otherwise, a new one will take three to four years to build,” he said.

Earlier, the governor visited Gulistan-i-Sarmast zone to inspect the site of Fatima Jinnah University. Its groundbreaking ceremony was performed on Jan 30, 2015 by then governor, Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, along with property tycoon Malik Riaz, who had promised to build it. The governor also visited the site, in the Kohsar area, which was first chosen when ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif had on March 27, 2017 announced setting up of a university in Hyderabad.

‘Hyderabad needs more universities’

Governor Ismail also stated that the federal government was willing to support Sindh government as far as the establishment of Govt College University was concerned because, given the size of Hyderabad, the city would need several, not one, universities.

In reply to a question, he said Imran Khan had always said the MQM was close to the PTI in the ideological sense, barring the “terrorist factor” in the shape of Altaf Hussain. He said that minus-Altaf, MQM with a positive and soft image was a strong ally of PTI. He said that time would decide whether the two would contest polls jointly.

Read: MQM and PTI could contest next elections together: PM Khan

Acting Mayor Suhail Mashhadi, MQM MNAs Salahuddin and Sabir Qaimkhani received the governor on his arrival in the city.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2019