Sindh CM trying to heat up political atmosphere

ISLAMABAD: Otherwise a cool-minded man, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah is trying to heat up political atmosphere by showering accusations on the federal government while Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is keeping his cool and focused on his mega development agenda.

Efforts to raise the political temperature by one side and to keep it under control by projecting its performance by the other are meant to cash in on in the forthcoming general elections in 2018. Most of the political moves eye the grand electoral fight with every player using its energies to impress the electorate.

This was the second time in three days that Murad Ali Shah hurled threats over the federal institutions when he accused the central government of taking no measures when the water level in the Tarbela and Mangla has gone to the lowest level due to power generation. He claimed that Sindh would be the worst affected due to the grave looming water shortage crisis. Then came the caveat – we should not be compelled (to take any extreme step). The tone and tenor employed by him was unexpected from a person of this disposition.

When Sharjeel Inam Memon was briefly detained at the Islamabad airport by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) two days back, the chief minister had threatened to send packing all the federal institutions from the province. This was certainly a rebellious assertion.

Not only he but Memon and some other senior Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders also poured scorn on the federal government for the brief detention of the former Sindh minister, who was wanted in a massive corruption scandal involving over Rs5 billion.

The action against Memon at the airport was taken by the NAB and not by any department on the instructions of the federal government. However, it was singled out for battering for political reasons. It is also a fact that Memon had fled Pakistan for fear of arrest two  years ago after he got sense that he would be caught by the NAB, which was then investigating the scam.

The PPP is building its campaign for the 2018 parliamentary polls by attacking the Nawaz Sharif government instead of highlighting its performance in Sindh. Comments coming from the top hierarchy including Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal serve as a guide for the other leaders to keep taking on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

On the other hand, the prime minister has presented the achievements and targets of his government before the parliamentary party of the PML-N, which was primarily convened to ensure maximum presence of lawmakers in the National Assembly for approval amendments in the Constitution and Pakistan Army Act to extend powers of military courts to try civilian terrorists. This objective was achieved subsequently.

“Pakistan’s economy witnessed a positive turnaround and is fast growing in the face of numerous challenges inherited by the government in 2013. The speedy work is underway on various projects under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which once completed would immensely benefit Pakistan in particular and the region in general,” the premier told his party legislators.

The government, he stated, initiated mega energy and infrastructure projects to address the issue of power shortages and increase connectivity in Pakistan. The government has overcome the issue of power shortages to a great extent and load shedding will be history by the year 2018. It is massively investing in motorways, highways and other infrastructure projects as well. The overall law and order especially in Karachi and Balochistan has greatly improved during this government. Pakistan of 2017 is very different from that of 2013.

Not only the prime minister gave an elaborate overview of the performance of the government but key ministers including Khawaja M Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Shahid Khakan Abbasi and his principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad talked about the work done and being done in their respective spheres.