Education, health, peace are my priorities: Murad Ali Shah

Says people are talking about corruption but now they will feel the change; let’s work together for a cleaner Karachi, a greener Thar and safer Sindh

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Friday elected by a majority vote Syed Murad Ali Shah as the Leader of the House.

Shah was chosen to lead the Sindh government as the new chief minister of the province for the remaining tenure of less than two years before the next general election in the year 2018.

Later in the evening, Syed Murad Ali Shah took the oath of office of the new chief minister of the province.Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan administered the oath to the chief minister at a ceremony at the Governor’s House.

The oath-taking ceremony was attended among others by Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, the Speaker of Sindh Assembly, Agha Siraj Khan Durrani and the Director-General of Sindh Rangers Major-General Bilal Akbar.

Murad Ali Shah succeeded Qaim Ali Shah who had been the chief minister of the province since May 30, 2013.

Murad Ali Shah, the candidate of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, had to face only one contestant, Khurrum Sher Zaman of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.Murad Ali Shah easily sailed through the election in the House as was being expected.

Earlier, the two covering candidates for Murad Ali Shah, Dr Sikandar Ali Mandhro and Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar, who were provincial ministers in the cabinet of the outgoing chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, announced in the House withdrawal of their candidature from the election of the Leader of the House.

In all, 91 lawmakers of the provincial assembly took part in the election for the new Leader of the House.

Polling in the House was held through the method of division of the House.

It was the first time the Sindh Assembly adopted themethod of division of the House for electing a chief minister.

Murad Ali Shah secured 88 votes while Khurrum Sher Zaman of the PTI got only three votes. 

Eighty-six of the votes secured by the winning candidate were all polled by the PPP lawmakers while two other lawmakers, despite their not being affiliated with the PPP, also voted in his favour. 

They were Ghulam Rasool Khan Jatoi of the National People’s Party from the opposition benches and Syed Amir Haider Shah Sheerazi declaring himself an independent lawmaker though hitherto he belonged to the opposition Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). 

The MPAs of the PPP who didn’t turn up in the House to take part in the election were Sharjeel Inam Memon, Syed Owais Muzaffar, Mir Nadir Khan Magsi and Ali Nawaz Shah. 

The first three of these MPAs have been out of the country while the fourth could not make it due to his being ill.  

Contrary to expectations, Barrister Hasnain Ali Mirza, a PPP MPA and son of former Sindh home minister, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, showed up at the assembly and voted in favour of Murad Ali Shah.

Besides the PTI, the three other opposition parties in the House, the Muttahida Quami Movement, the PML-N and the PML (Functional), abstained from the voting process. 

The MQM lawmakers, led by Khawaja Izharul Hassan, who is the Leader of the Opposition, and the PML-N legislators led by their parliamentary leader, Muhammad Ismail Rahoo, attended the proceedings in the House but didn’t take part in the polling. The PML-F legislators didn’t turn up at the assembly at all.

Abdul Rauf Siddiqui, an MQM lawmaker who is imprisoned, attended the proceedings of the House on special production orders of Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani. 

Rauf Siddiqui thanked the speaker for issuing orders in his favour and giving him the opportunity to attend the session though he also said that it was his legal right to be present in the House despite his being incarcerated.

The speaker hoped that once the new chief minister assumed his office the imprisoned MPA of the MQM would be able to get all the lawful facilities and privileges in the prison he was supposed to get on account of his being a lawmaker.

The election process in the House commenced at 4:17pm and concluded at 5pm with the speaker declaring the result of the polling around 5:05pm. 

After the result had been announced, outgoing chief minister vacated the seat of the leader of the House making way for the new chief to assume the position of the leader of the House. 

The House reverberated with the thumping of desks while PPP supporters sitting in the visitors’ gallery shouted slogans of “Jeay Bhutto”.

The entire House gave a standing ovation to the outgoing chief minister, Qaim Ali Shah amid the thumping of the desks. 

The Speaker, Agha Siraj Durrani, and the parliamentary leaders of the ruling and the opposition parties in their speeches in the House eulogized the services of Qaim Ali Shah while they also felicitated the newly-elected chief executive of the province, urging him to serve the masses of Sindh. 

Murad Ali Shah’s speech: Syed Murad Ali Shah in his maiden speech in the House as the new chief executive of the province soon after his election said that law and order, healthcare and education would be his government’s top priorities. 

"I have clear targets to make Sindh safe, secure, healthy, wealthy and literate.

"As we enter into a new phase of governance, I strongly feel for continuation of policies with particular focus on three key areas. 

"The first of these is the law and order -- without which no sustainable progress can be achieved. 

“The second is healthcare -- a basic right of every citizen. 

“And the third is education which will be the most important investment in our future," he said.

Syed Murad Ali Shah said that revival and reopening of some 5,000 to 6,000 closed government-run schools in the province would be a major challenge for him along with enrolment of 55 percent of the children who have been out of schools.

He said that the dropout rate of students in the province had to be decreased.

On the law and order, the new chief minister said, "The role of all the law-enforcement agencies, civil and military, is truly commendable. However, much more needs to be done." 

He said his focus would on fighting against anyone and anything that threatened the security of this province and its people.

The chief minister said that his aim was to ensure that every citizen of this province felt safe and secured. 

"Every child that is born is healthy, and every mother is strong enough to nurture her child,” said Syed Murad Ali Shah. 

He also said, "I see this province as a place where parents would have no difficulty in educating their children, and the youth would be able to receive quality education and job opportunities according to their abilities."

He urged everyone, right from the members of the House to the people belonging to various strata, to work for a stronger and a healthier Sindh. 

"Alone we may go fast, but together we will go far," he quoted a saying and urged upon everyone to come forward, not just in words but in actions, to improve the situation. 

"Let's work together for a cleaner Karachi, a greener Thar and a safer Sindh," he said.

Appreciating the role of the media, the new chief minister said that they had always worked to strengthen democracy. 

He hoped that the media would be highlighting the shortcomings of his government so that he could address them accordingly. 

"I assure you that I would be fixing the problems as you [the media] would be pointing them out to me," he said.

The new chief minister urged the provincial bureaucracy to be punctual and that they must be in their offices by 9am or they had to face action.

Syed Murad Ali Shah said that as chief executive of the province, he would keep his protocol and security contingent to the bare minimum required. 

The new chief minister said his moving around in the city would cause minimal disturbance to other vehicular traffic in the metropolis, especially during the rush hours.

He also expressed his resolve to take actions to end the menacing issue of corruption and to adopt measures to mitigate the perception of corruption prevailing in the province. 

He said that there would be a definite change regarding the perception of corruption in the province.

Murad Ali Shah said that PPP’s govt in Sindh would strive to end issues regarding women and religious minorities in the province.

He thanked PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari for their unflinching support and guidance. 

Syed Murad Ali Shah also thanked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the MQM chief, the PML-F chief, Pir Pagara, the PTI chairman Imran Khan and the NPP leader Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi as they had welcomed him. 

Earlier in his speech in the House, opposition leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan urged Murad Ali Shah that after assuming office of the provincial chief executive, he should make efforts for ending the sense of deprivation and alienation prevailing among the dwellers of the urban areas of the province.

He alleged that the people residing in the urban areas of the province had been pushed against the wall while their representative political party, the MQM, was being persecuted systematically.

The opposition leader said that the MQM should be considered as part of the solution rather than considering the party as part of the problem.

He said that Murad Ali Shah had been elected into power by a majority vote of 52 percent members of the House while 48 percent members of the House had abstained from voting and didn’t vote for him.

He urged the new chief minister to strive to get to know as on what basis these lawmakers had remained indifferent and dissociated themselves from the voting process. 

Outgoing CM Qaim Ali Shah congratulating Murad Ali Shah said that he was the son of his old friend, Syed Abdullah Shah. 

Murad meets Bilawal: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah called on Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, on Friday to express his thanks for the confidence and trust posed by the party in him by the leadership to perform as the chief executive of the Sindh province.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari appreciated the outgoing Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah for his loyalty and hard work during his entire political tenure.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari instructed the new chief minister to pay more attention for improvement of infrastructure, education, health and law and order in Sindh.