KARACHI: The crackdown on corruption in Sindh restarted after a little break as Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif arrived in Karachi a day earlier (on Tuesday and issued orders for strict action against corruption, endorsing the views of the DG Rangers and Corps Commander, Karachi. There was a development in this regard on the very next day (today) and Dr Asim Hussain, a very close friend and confidante of Asif Zardari was arrested. The host of the programme of Geo News, ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath’ said Dr Asim Hussain’s arrest was not abrupt as the NAB was already investigating and had summoned him a member of times. Dr Asim Husain had obtained a bail before arrest and had gone to Dubai. He returned to Pakistan only four days back. Speaking to Shahzeb the representative of Geo News Talha Hashmi said the arrest was a joint action of the FIA and other secret agencies. He informed the homework for other actions had also been completed and the action now onwards would be on the basis of solid evidence. It was merely a few hours after Dr Asim’s arrest that Deputy Managing Director of Sui Southern Gas Shoaib Warsi was also arrested. Shahzeb Khanzada further said that the Sindh government had been objecting time and again to the actions against corruption. There was, however, an improvement in the situation after Asif Zardari’s harsh statement against the defence institutions, but it worsened after very severe statement of Khursheed Shah that the PPP was being made the target of revengeful treatment in Sindh. Khursheed Shah had warned of dangerous implications of interference of institutions in the provincial institutions. Shahzeb Khanzada expressed the possibility of the arrest of high profile personalities in Sindh. PPP senior leader Qamar Zaman Kaira, while referring to arrest of Dr Asim Husain, the statement of Khursheed Shah and the stance of the PPP, said it was their objection that Dr Asim Husain was arrested without taking provincial government into confidence or informing it. He said, “We have certain reservations on the matter. Qamar Zaman Kaira said every member of the PPP was willing if there were allegations against him, as the party never escaped from being answerable. Regarding ‘solid evidence’ as told in the media, he said, they were different from those presented in the courts. He said a protest would be forwarded to the federal government on the arrest of Dr Asim, as the interior minister had told that every action would be taken with intimation to Sindh chief minister. He said this was an issue of the provincial government and the chief minister would take it up with the federation. However, he said whatever the federation was saying was beyond its control and pointed out whatever policy it devised proved to be out of its control. It was understood that they had bad intentions or they had no control over the policy.
