LARKANA: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday left for Islamabad after receiving briefings on various issues and holding meetings with Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, provincial ministers, advisers senior party colleagues and elected representatives from Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts over the last three days.

On Sunday, he along with Sindh PPP president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro visited Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto to offer fateha and lay wreaths on the graves of his elders. He also visited Faridabad village along with his aunt MNA Faryal Talpur and other party leaders to offer condolences to former home minister Sohail Anwar Siyal on the death of his father, Ali Anwar Siyal.

A delegation of the Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO) called on the PPP chairman and briefed him about the poverty alleviation initiative launched by it with the assistance of the Sindh government in remote areas.

The SRSO works for women empowerment and is currently extending interest-free loans to women in Larkana and Sukkur divisions.

Bhutto-Zardari appreciated the organisation’s stressed the need for focusing more on health and education sectors, besides taking more measures for women empowerment.

On Saturday evening, Bhutto-Zardari chaired several meetings regarding law and order, development and irrigation at the local circuit house.

CM Shah, his cabinet colleagues including Mr Khuhro, Syed Nasir Shah and Saeed Ghani, and adviser on information Murtaza Wahab attended the meeting.

‘CJP was told water issue in Thar almost resolved’

CM’s special assistant on irrigation Ashfaque Memon briefed the meeting about water availability situation, according sources. He said water shortage during the Karif season on the right bank Indus was assessed at 37.5 per cent while its was 20pc in Rice Canal, 38pc in Dadu Canal and 42pc in Warah Canal.

It was decided that special police units be established to supervise all canals off-shooting from the Indus, a source privy to the meeting said. Bhutto-Zardari stressed on addressing thes issue on a priority basis.

Syed Nasir Shah drew the PPP chairman’s attention to the ageing Sukkur barrage and called for building an alternative one after conducting necessary study.

The meeting was informed that such a study had already been conducted and now work was under way for preparing the PC-I of the alternative barrage, the sources said.

MPAs from Qambar-Shahdadkot Nawab Sardar Khan Chandio and Burhan Khan Chandio said Warah Canal was experiencing an acute shortage of irrigation and even drinking water. They also informed the meeting that a vast belt in the district was lying uncultivated.

Security environment

The Larkana DIG briefed the meeting regarding law and order in the entire division. According to him, only 30 close circuit TV cameras have so far been installed in Larkana city and we are planning to install 1,000 more in the division. There are 777 registered seminaries in the division and some 76 were unregistered, he said, making the CM to asked that why they were not registered. The DIG said they were under strict surveillance. Sharing the figures regarding murders in tribal feuds with in the division from 2009 to 2018, the meeting was informed that more than 100 people had been killed during the period. Another 54 were killed in the name of honour.

Bhutto-Zardari called for extra efforts to make Larkana division a crime-free area.

Acting commissioner, deputy commissioners and SSPs in the division attended the meeting.

Meeting reviews development works

Bhutto-Zardari and Murad Ali Shah also chaired a joint meeting to review development schemes in the province.

Briefing the media about the meeting, Saeed Ghani, Syed Nasir Shah, Mukesh Chawla and Murtaza Wahab said that it decided to complete the ongoing schemes.

Replying to a question that why most projects in Larkana had remained incomplete, they said the required funds were not available. Allocations for new schemes had also been made in the budget, they said.

Referring to the Saturday meeting between the chief justice of Pakistan and Sindh chief minister, Murtaza Wahab said it was held in a congenial atmosphere. “The CJP asked for reforms in the policing system,” he said.

He said the CM also told him that he would accompany him [CJP] in his visit to Tharparkar and brief him about the development schemes under way there. “The CM informed the chief justice that water issue in Tharparkar has almost been resolved,” Murtaza Wahab said.

In reply to a question, the ministers said that the information required by the joint investigation team [regarding alleged corruption in various department and money laundering scam] had been provided to the JIT.

They said the PPP government did not intend to dispossess people [through anti-encroachment campaigns]. They [evicted families] would be provided alternative accommodations, they added. Commenting on the recent police action against protesting residents of Pakistan Quarters in Karachi, they said that the PTI government should file a review petition in court so that the residents’ eviction could be avoided.

About the ongoing accountability process, the ministers said PTI should start it from its own leaders.

Published in Dawn, October 29th , 2018

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