KARACHI: Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh on Friday accused Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah of making “desperate attempts to save an organised corrupt system being run through the provincial bureaucracy” by using the Sindh cabinet’s decision to reject the recent transfer orders issued by the federal government under its rotation policy of federal officers.

Speaking to reporters at the ‘media corner’ in the Sindh Assembly, he expressed his amusement as to how the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government which “never resisted to retaining officers of good and upright repute and professional character in the past” was all-out on a war footing to retain the services of certain police officers and secretaries.

‘The CM never resisted in past to stop transfer of honest police officers’

“All these officers are actually directly involved in saving interest of the Sindh government and its ruling party PPP by hook or by crook,” he alleged. “The PPP government plundered public money and resources mercilessly and now they are playing the ‘Sindh card’ to cover up their wrongdoings but their tricks will not work anymore.”

“It’s a history of the PPP government that it never tolerates honest officers. Why the PPP government never took initiative to retain police officers like A. D. Khawaja, Kaleem Imam, Sanaullah Abbasi, Bashir Memon, Najaf Mirza, Sultan Khawaja, Abdul Khaliq Sheikh, Dr Waliullah Dal, Touqeer Naeem, Amir Farooqui, Aftab Pathan and Ameer Sheikh? They were also transferred, but no objection was raised.”

He also referred to postings in departments directly from the ‘blessings’ of the chief minister who deputed his “blue-eyed and trusted men” at key positions violating merit and defying rights of the deserving officials.

“The Sindh government enjoys services of Grade-22 officer Naheed Durrani, but a Grade-20 officer, Hassan Naqvi, has been appointed as chairman of P&D Board. Why? The answer is very straight and simple. Everyone knows who is a part of an organised corrupt system which is run through bureaucracy and directly supervised by the chief minister.

“Believe me, Sindh has became a graveyard for honest, competent and professional officers,” he said.

The opposition leader also referred to a Sindh High Court’s judgement in 2021 which clearly mentions the establishment division as an employer who could transfer any officer and place him or her in or at any position of the corresponding grade under terms and conditions of the service.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2021