Sindh’s chief minister said on Thursday that the provincial government bore no grudge against the University of Karachi (KU) and that the institution was always provided with adequate financial assistance.
Talking to the media after the Ziauddin University’s convocation at the Expo Centre, CM Murad Ali Shah said that if required, his administration would extend more monetary help to KU.
Shah was told that the government was not providing enough financial support to the largest public university of the city and it had caused problems in running the everyday affairs of the institution.
In response to the claim, the chief executive said he would be able to take appropriate steps to resolve the matter if the KU administration approached him.
He said the Sindh government would increase the allocation for education in the next budget, adding that both the federal and provincial administrations were adopting various measures to improve the country’s education sector.
He also thanked ZU Chancellor Dr Asim Hussain for his educational services and prayed that the former federal petroleum minister made a full recovery from his illness.
Replying to a query on gasification and electrification of the province’s special economic zones, Shah said the prime minister had convened a meeting of the Council of Common Interests where the issue would be discussed in detail.
Concerning the recent expiration of the Rangers’ special policing powers, he said: “There is no delay or problem in empowering them again. The matter will be resolved in the next few days. Some quarters are unnecessarily giving it a controversial angle.”
He was also asked to comment on Panamagate. Since the media talk took place before the Supreme Court’s decision had been announced, he said his party would accept whatever the judges decided.
Meanwhile, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan chief Dr Farooq Sattar said people were glued to their TV sets and some had even arranged for large screens to listen to the Panamagate verdict. “I feel as if everyone is waiting for a cricket match to start.”
Sattar said he believed that the legal values would be fulfilled in the decision, but “since it is yet to be announced, we should wait for it and respect it”. He said the obligations of the country’s constitutional institutions would increase.
He, however, insisted that Panamagate was quite an insignificant issue compared to “the fact that our educational institutions are becoming hubs of extremism and terrorism”.
“Look at the Naureen Leghari and Mashal Khan cases, and the Safoora Goth massacre; they all point towards a culture of extremism present in our society and even in the education sector, which is alarming and demands immediate action.”
He said that it was unfortunate that extremism and terrorism had found their way into the country’s educational system and that they were still undetected and unchecked.
Responding to a question, Sattar claimed that the Sindh police chief and CM were not on the same page, but since “there are many other policemen in the CM’s good books, he should order any of them to arrest me, instead of giving misleading statements to the media”.
On the Rangers’ issue, he said the paramilitary force should be re-empowered in the entire province. “It is high time to depoliticise the police department and make it efficient.”