THATTA: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari are

committed to resolving the issue of electricity loadshedding, and pointed out that special initiatives have already been taken to execute solar energy projects.

He was speaking to the media in Raj Malik village of Sujawal district on Saturday. He visited the village along with Faryal Talpur, Jam Khan Shoro, Riaz Shah Shirazi, Shafqat Shah Shirazi and other party leaders to offer condolences to District Council Chairman Danish Khan Malkani on the demise of his father, Raees Ghulam Qadir Malkani, a veteran politician who died on Wednesday (July 24) in a Karachi hospital.

The CM said that both the federal and Sindh governments were actively working on resolution of the issue of prolonged power outages in Sindh.

In this context, he recalled slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s contributions, saying that she had launched a private sector policy which was aimed at overcoming electricity crisis. The policy was later adopted by other countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, he claimed, and expressed his disappointment over failure of successive governments in Pakistan to follow the policy and devise effective strategies in order to get rid of the crisis once and for all.

According to Mr Shah, Sindh’s power generation capacity is 40,000 megawatts while its current requirement is 20,000-22,000 megawatts. Still, he added, Sindh was sharing the crisis with other provinces.

In reply to several questions on political situation in the country, Mr Shah said Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf should avoid creating political chaos and, instead, it should follow constructive path. He also highlighted the importance of honouring Supreme Court verdicts and upholding the Constitution.

Recalling that the PTI in its government had resorted to victimising other political leaders, including Asif Ali Zardari and Faryal Talpur. He said PPP desired to see the PTI becoming a “mature” political party.

The chief minister also welcomed PTI leader Imran Khan’s reported statement showing his willingness to engage in talks with the establishment. Mr Shah termed it a positive move.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2024