Some other elements could also be involved in Jan Mahar’s murder: Ahmed Shah

HYDERABAD: Sindh Caretaker Information Minister Ahmed Shah has said that the efforts made to arrest the murderer of Sukkur journalist Jan Mohammad Mahar are unprecedented.

During a talk with journalists in Hyderabad on Monday, he said he had visited Hyderabad two weeks and ago, where he briefed media on Mahar’s murder, and after that the Sindh IGP went to Sukkur, where he stayed for four days and was briefed on the situation. He said he had also discussed this matter with the chief minister.

He said that on the occasion of the Quaid-e-Azam’s birthday, the chief Minister, chief secretary, IGP and he discussed the murder case in Karachi at the Mazar-e-Quaid. The Sindh government was earlier thinking that SSP Irfan Ahmed Samoon had been appointed there for five years, so they would be effective in this case and the SSP and the DIG were also giving such hopes, but they failed completely. Later, he was transferred and replaced with a very good officer, he added.

Shah said the Sindh Rangers DG was called by the chief minister at the CM House a few days ago and the CM insisted that he should go and do what was in his power immediately to arrest Mahar’s murder.

He thought “some other elements” were also involved in the murder, and due to this, some transfers and postings had been made locally in Sukkur to break the same chain.

In response to a question, he said the caretaker government was neutral in the upcoming elections. When he took the oath as caretaker minister, he said, Hafiz Naeem, Safdar Abbasi, and Sardar Rahim congratulated him. During the election days, he said, whichever small party is present in the province tends to indulge in a blame game. Actually, they do not blame the caretaker government but want to increase their votes, he remarked.

The provincial information minister said that the government was neutral whose job was to hold elections.

On the occasion of participating in the closing ceremony of Ayaz Mela in Hyderabad, Ahmed Shah told media that Sheikh Ayaz was a great poet of the century, he was the name of a movement, and decorating the fair with his name was a successful effort. Yes, this fair should be held in an open place where more than 20 thousand people could come. No grant is allocated for the fair, and the fair decoration is done by the Department of Culture. But compared to the impact of Ayaz Mela, the help received from the Sindh government is not enough.

Shah said that the decision to declare a public holiday on December 27 on the occasion of the martyrdom anniversary of the country’s great leader Benazir Bhutto by the Sindh government would be taken in a meeting on Tuesday.