Governor Ismail seemingly unaware he isn’t an official member of Apex Committee

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, who has been in office for the past three months, was not entirely aware that the governor has never formally been a part of the Sindh Apex Committee meant to deal with security and terrorism.

This emerged on Friday during a conversation the governor had with reporters on the last day of the defence expo IDEAS-2018 held in the city.

Speaking to reporters a day after the Apex Committee was reconstituted by the Sindh government with 17 members, Governor Ismail said that the decision to expel him from the provincial apex committee had not yet been officially communicated to him. “We don’t know on what account the Sindh government is fearful of us. If I’m expelled from the apex committee, then it is not a good thing,” he said.

Seemingly, he was not aware that the governor is generally not an official member of the body which is chaired by the Sindh CM. In the past, former Sindh governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan used to attend the meetings of the then provincial apex committee as a special invitee, but he was never formally part of it.

Governor Ismail told reporters on Friday that he failed to understand what the apprehensions of the Sindh government were from the Governor House or from the governor. “Such steps [leaving him out of the apex committee] will further elongate the distances as they will also diminish the confidence-building measures [of the federal government].”

According to Ismail, he was in touch with the Sindh government even though differences with the provincial administration had been persisting on certain issues. “We have been asking the Sindh government to do monitoring of the federal projects (being built in the province), but the Sindh government has failed to understand this thing. Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has been failing to understand some of these things,” said Ismail about the issue of the Karachi Transformation Committee (KTC) recently constituted by the federal cabinet.

“It seems that the Sindh government is confused,” he said. “There is no harm if we get along with each other in the projects of Sindh government. These projects will be speedily completed if Sindh and federal governments join forces for their sake.”

He insisted that the federal government would complete the development projects it had initiated in the province. The governor further said that the Prime Minister’s Housing Scheme had been launched in Sindh focusing first on poverty-stricken areas. In the first phase, it had been introduced in Sukkur, while it would reach Karachi at a later stage, he said, adding he had been in touch with CM Shah regarding the scheme.

It should be noted that a few days back, Ismail, who is also the convener of the KTC, had expressed the desire that the representatives of Sindh government and PPP would also join the new committee for a broader oversight and improved monitoring of federally-funded projects in Karachi.