Sindh accepts Nisar’s judicial probe offer

Hopes judicial commission’s investigation will end row between province and Centre

Karachi

The Sindh government accepted on Saturday the interior minister’s offer to form a judicial commission to probe into the Federal Investigation Agency’s raids in the province.

In a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s House, a Sindh government spokesperson said interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had offered Pakistan People’s Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari to form a judicial commission to investigate the FIA’s raids in the province.

He added that the provincial government had accepted the offer and asked the interior minister to form the commission.

The spokesman pointed out that the FIA had taken away over 15,000 files of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

“The provincial government deems the actions of the FIA and the National Accountability Bureau in Sindh a ‘stride over’ as the federal bodies have no authority and jurisdiction to conduct raids at the offices of the provincial government,” he noted.

“The provincial government has its own mechanism to take action against corruption in its departments. The FIA, under a self-proclaimed authority, has taken over the role of the anti-corruption establishment in the limits of the provincial government which is unconstitutional, illegal and against the spirit of 18th Amendment.”

At a recent press conference, the interior minister had said he was ready to form judicial commission if Zardari and his party’s government felt that the FIA had crossed its jurisdiction.

The spokesperson said the provincial hoped that the findings of the judicial commission would help remove the misunderstandings developed on the issue of FIA and NAB violating their jurisdictions in the province.

“This is a very good, pragmatic and bold offer on the part of the interior minister. The statement of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on NAB is also an acceptance of the Sindh government’s stance on the issue,” he added.

The spokesman further said the Sindh government wanted the commission to be formed soon to bring an end to the row between the province and Centre.