Rangers’ stay issue to be resolved soon, Qaim assures corps commander

KARACHI: As the controversy on special policing powers of Sindh Rangers lingers on, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Friday met the Corps Commander Karachi, Lieutenant-General Naveed Mukhtar, at the CM House to discuss security affairs besides the stay of the paramilitary force in the province.

The only concrete thing that came out of the meeting, which lasted for over one-and-a-half hours, was an assurance from the CM to the corps commander that the issue concerning the stay of Rangers in the province and its special powers would be resolved shortly as he was doing consultations on the issue with the leadership of the party.

The meeting between the corps commander and the CM discussed, among other matters, the issues related to the ongoing targeted operation in Karachi, implementation of the National Action Plan against terrorism in the province and the overall law and order situation in the province.

In the latter part of the meeting, the CM in his interaction with the corps commander was assisted by Sindh Senior Minister for Finance Syed Murad Ali Shah, Home Minister Suhail Anwar Siyal and CM’s Adviser on Law Murtaza Wahab.

The chief minister said in the meeting that his government was committed to eradicating terrorism-related activities such as target killings, extortion and kidnappings for ransom from the province. “I appreciate the law-enforcement agencies, particularly the police and Rangers doing their work for restoration of peace in the city,” he said and also thanked the corps commander Karachi for taking personal interest in the implementation of the National Action Plan.

Later, after his meeting with the corps commander, the CM went to the Bilawal House in Clifton where he met the Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

The CM there briefed the chairman of the ruling party of the province on deliberations of his meeting with the Karachi corps commander and consultations so far made from the legal point of view regarding the issues concerning the stay and special powers of the Sindh Rangers in the province.

The chairman of PPP directed the CM to resolve the issue concerning the Sindh Rangers after taking into account all legal aspects of the matter.

It emerged after the meeting that the Sindh CM could do correspondence with the prime minister and the interior minister in Islamabad in order to apprise them of reservations of the provincial government regarding certain actions of the federal agencies in the province while trampling upon the domain and concept of provincial autonomy.

The top federal authorities would be urged by the CM that various institutions and agencies should work within the limits and jurisdictions prescribed for them by law and the Constitution.

The CM would ask the top federal authorities that the federal agencies should first duly intimate the concerned top authority of the province before taking any major and high-profile action in any part of Sindh.

After the meeting, it was reported by the media that Bilawal Bhutto left for Dubai.

In Dubai, Bilawal Bhutto, Sindh CM, and Co-Chairman of PPP Asif Ali Zardari would very soon conduct top-level consultations of the party on the issue concerning the stay and special powers of Sindh Rangers in the province.

Some key ministers included in the Sindh cabinet could also attend the top-level consultation of the PPP in Dubai.

It was the second consecutive meeting of Sindh CM with Bilawal Bhutto in two days on the issue related to Sindh Rangers.

Both the terms of special policing powers of Sindh Rangers in Karachi and the stay of Rangers in the province in aid to civil administration and Sindh Police as per the Constitution had come to an end on 19 July 2016.