KARACHI, June 3: Unable to bury the hatchet once and for all, the Sindh local government minister and the Karachi nazim had a somewhat low-key meeting at the Governor’s House in the early hours of Tuesday to iron out misunderstandings over the interpretation of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001.

Newly appointed chairman of the National Reconstruction Bureau Dr Asim Hussain is said to have attended the meeting where participants, including Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad and Home Minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza, compared notes on major changes being planned to be made to the local government law.

Both Sindh Minister for Local Government Agha Siraj Durrani and Karachi Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal told Dawn that they could not share with the media the main talking-point of their late-night encounter.

However, sources said the provincial minister was told that the Sindh government’s order through which it had taken over two important civic bodies were illegal and against the spirit of the SLGO 2001.

They quoted the city nazim as reiterating that the provincial government’s action with regard to assumption of control over the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) and the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) was “illegal and not in compliance with the SLGO 2001”.

They said that a rather piqued Mustafa Kamal told Mr Durrani that he was fully cooperating with the provincial government despite its continuing interference in the city government’s affairs.

The nazim is believed to have said that Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah’s government had transferred and posted some 56 officials in various departments of the city government and except for one official – EDO works and services – he allowed every official to assume his responsibilities.

The sources quoted Mr Durrani as saying that the Sindh government had the powers to transfer and post officials in the city government and the nazim made no favours by allowing the officials to assume their office. He underlined the need for devising a mechanism for the transfer and posting of government officials in the city government.

The sources quoted the participants as saying that while they were far from arriving at a solution acceptable to the Pakistan People’s Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the provincial minister and the Karachi nazim would refrain from indulging in mutual recrimination in the public. It was observed that such sparring put the provincial coalition government in an awkward position.

It was decided that another round of talks would be held soon.

On April 24, the Sindh government appointed Mr Durrani as chairman and authority of the KWSB and KBCA, respectively, by removing Mr Kamal.

In retaliation, the city government on April 25 implemented an earlier decision of the Sindh government and made KWSB and KBCA as 15th and 16th groups of offices (namely water and sanitation and building control) in the city government in pursuance of the relevant clauses of the SLGO 2001.

Since then, Mr Durrani and Mr Kamal have been at loggerheads and the confrontation became so intense that the Sindh governor intervened on May 20 and held a meeting of the warring individuals to defuse tension.