In their first-ever meeting on Monday, Sindh’s chief minister and the new British high commissioner to Pakistan discussed health and education, the two sectors in which the Government of the United Kingdom wishes to invest.
Syed Murad Ali Shah, the province’s chief executive, said the teachers training programme, the adoption of latest teaching methods and the improvement of textbooks are the main areas in which the two governments can work together.
Dr Christian Turner, the newly appointed British diplomat, assured the CM that the UK government will definitely support the province in the education sector, and that “we will also support the Sindh government in the health sector”.
Shah informed the high commissioner that in 1923 the British government had constructed the Sukkur Barrage, one of the most beautiful and best barrages of the world, but now it needed a massive overhaul and renovations.
“We will be glad if the UK government or any private British firm assists the Sindh government in the rehabilitation of the barrage,” said the CM. On this Turner assured him of making all-out efforts to support the provincial administration in the matter.
Kashmir issue
The chief executive also took up the Kashmir issue and urged the high commissioner to help force the Indian government to stop committing atrocities against the people of the occupied valley.
Shah said the Indian government has unleashed state terrorism against the people of Kashmir, and their hatred against Muslims can be gauged from their Citizenship Amendment Bill, according to which every foreigner is acceptable to them except Muslims.
“Now the Indian authorities have begun conducting genocide in Kashmir, and they have annexed the held state to India by withdrawing its special status, which is a complete violation of the UN resolution.”
The CM urged the UN, the global community and international human rights watchdogs to become the voice of the voiceless people of Kashmir and liberate them from the clutches of India.
Britain’s Deputy High Commissioner in Karachi Mike Nithavrianakis, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Sajid Jamal Abro and others were also present in the meeting.
Reforms
A delegation of the American management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, led by its Managing Partner Ozgur Tanrikulu, called on the chief executive and agreed to work together in the improvement of textbooks and the capacity building of teachers and hospital administration staff.
CM Shah and the delegation agreed to work together, for which he directed the health and education departments to sit with them and devise a detailed programme for the implementation of reforms in the two sectors.
Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho was also present on the occasion, and she fixed another meeting with the delegation for the training and capacity building of hospital administration staff.