Kamal is mean, low, bipolar person: Sindh governor

KARACHI: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad on Wednesday said that being a representative of the president, he was a part of the establishment and that he would not let any worthless person say rubbish things.

Addressing a ceremony and talking to media persons, he criticised former Karachi Nazim Mustafa Kamal and his newly-formed Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP). “In my opinion, he is a very dishonourable, mean, low and bipolar person,” he said, mockingly inviting the PSP chief to visit a hospital to cure all his ‘diseases’.

He alleged that the PSP chief had indulged in massive corruption during his tenure as Karachi Nazim and had ruined the city, also accusing him of sending money to Malaysia and London.

Ibad said that former city Nazim Naimatullah Khan of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had played a crucial role in the development of Karachi and the current local government representatives should learn from him. The city government installed in 2005 sabotaged the vision of Naimatullah, he noted.

Ibad said the city government headed by Kamal performed well below par and could not even keep up with the JI leader’s work pace.

The term china-cutting initially surfaced in 2008 when Kamal was the city Nazim. “There are two aspects of china-cutting in the city. One is encroachment, the other targeted killings and cross-killings.”

The governor warned that the Sindh government would not spare anyone trying to disrupt peace in the city or involved in acts of violence in the past.

Ibad said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had played a vital role in the development of Karachi and approved the Green Line Metro Bus project on his demand. He also hailed the vision of former president Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, saying the two had issued directives for the development of Karachi and the whole of Sindh.

The governor added that he would soon come up with shocking revelations about the sacred faces of the country, particularly Karachi.

He added that those behind ethnic cleansing would be probed. “The culprits belonging to any political party behind ethnic cleansing will be investigated. You will see how we punish them,” he reaffirmed.

“I cannot provide a deadline for completion of the ongoing operation in Karachi. However, I assure you not a second is being wasted.”He said the culprits behind the May 12 2007 bloodshed in Karachi during which at least 52 people were killed in armed clashes between political parties on the arrival of the then Chief Justice Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry would soon be brought to justice.

Going a step further, Dr Ibad asked the Director General Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) Major General Bilal Akbar and Inspector General (IG) Sindh Aallh Dinno Khawaja to hang everyone who commits a crime in the province.

Azeem Samar adds: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad has said that weapons recovered from a house in Azizabad locality of the city were no usual items of cutlery but, in fact, they had been procured to fight with the army and other law-enforcement agencies. He said the organisational committee of a political party was named in the purchase of the huge cache of arms and ammunition.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad said that he was the representative of the president of Pakistan in the province.  With this relation, he said he was a part of the establishment of the country as the president was the supreme commander of the armed forces. He said he would not allow any frivilous person to talk nonsense.

The Sindh governor, who is generally known for his mild mannerism, politeness, and gentle ways of doing conversations with the media and on public events, on Wednesday did explosive talk on political lines apparently hitting out at the Pak Sarzameen Party Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal who had two days ago levelled serious allegations against the governor.

The PSP chairman and former city Nazim levelled allegations of serious corruption and wrongdoings against the governor on Monday last while the spokesman for the Governor House had immediately refuted these allegations.

The governor in his first two public appearances immediately afterwards on Wednesday did hard talk against Mustafa Kamal and his political associates, mostly without naming him. He was first addressing at the inauguration of public school and Trauma Centre of the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) near Super Highway (where Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah was also present) and later when he went to the Ojha campus of Dow University of Health Sciences, off the University Road, where he talked to newsmen.

Dr Ibad said it had been investigated who had purchased the weapons and from where it had been purchased. These weapons were purchased to fight with the army, Rangers, or other law-enforcement agencies. The names of certain political figures surfaced in the investigation to find out as to who had purchased these weapons. Name of the Tanzeemi (organizational) committee of a political party also surfaced in this regard, he said.

He said that a decision had been made to give exemplary punishment to those who had purchased these weapons and to those criminals who had provided financial or any other kind of support for procuring these weapons, to other related criminals who had done “china cutting” of plots to earn money for the purpose. He said that exemplary punishment would be meted out to the elements involved in the purchase of these weapons so that in future no one could dare think of fighting against the law-enforcement agencies.

He said that elements involved in killings during the mayhem in the city on 12 May, 2007 would also be hung at roundabouts. Similarly, he said that the case of killing of Hakim Mohammad Saeed would be reopened as certain leads had been found in this regard, which would be investigated to catch those who had killed the eminent citizen of Karachi. Similarly, the case of murder attempt on the life of ANP leader Basheer Jan would also be re-opened.

The governor said the vicious cycle of ethnic cleansing, which continued from the year 2008 till November 2011 and witnessed the killings of Pakhtuns, Urdu speaking, and other ethnic communities would also be investigated in a thorough manner in order to catch the people responsible for these killings irrespective of their political affiliations.

No extortionist, criminal, terrorist, and gunrunner could be spared while doing political trumpeting sitting in a grocery shop of New Karachi or present in any posh locality; they will all be caught, said the governor.

“No one should remain under any misunderstanding that he is getting support. We have watched many dramas as no one could hide behind the ‘political dust’. Criminals will be caught also from the residence of those who have opened their political shops in a posh area,” he said.

The governor said that accountability of those responsible who had burnt to death 300 people in the Baldia factory fire would also be carried out. Those who after burning alive the poor people pocketed compensation for the heirs would not escape from the law, he said.

The Sindh governor said that he had been the governor of the province for the last 14 years and during this period, he had worked with various governments. He said that Mustafa Kamal, being the former Nazim of the city, had done nothing for Karachi as his predecessor Naimatullah Khan, being the Nazim of Karachi, had worked very hard. The city government, which assumed the charge after Naimatullah, had caused disappointment.

The pace of development works by Naimatullah Khan could not be maintained by the latter city govt.Without naming Mustafa Kamal, the governor said that development projects in the city could not be completed and remained stuck during his (Kamal’s) tenure as corruption and ineligibility had been the cause behind delays at that time. Giving the example of corruption done in the previous term of local government, he said that a bridge had been built at Sharae Faisal in 2009 at the cost of Rs350 million while a similar bridge had been built by the People’s Party’s government in 2012 at the cost of just Rs280 million.

He said the projects for bulk water supply to Karachi K-III and K-IV had been approved in 2004 and 2005 but work could not be started on them on timely basis. He said that the FWO would now complete the K-IV project, which would provide 260 million gallons additional water supply to Karachi, in just two years’ time. He said that work had been started on the Lyari Expressway in May 2008 but it could not be completed till the current year 2016 but again work had been restarted on this project. He said that Sindh CM should again be given credit for this.

The governor said that the present Sindh CM had been working on day and night basis for the development of the city and the rest of the Sindh province. He said that the present deputy mayor of the city Arshad Vohra belonged to a noble family and he would be provided fullest support.

Regarding the law and order in Karachi, he said that criminal activities in Karachi had been overcome up to 80 per cent while action was continuing against low and medium profile criminals who accounted for the remaining 20 per cent criminal activities in the city. He said that director-general of Sindh Rangers and Inspector-General of Sindh Police were credited with restoring peace in Karachi. He said the Rangers had been discharging its duties in the most professional manner. “Nobody should remain in doubt that any criminal would be spared as they would be caught and hung at roundabouts,” he said.