Reshuffle bubble bursts with only switching of duties

Karachi
All the hype surrounding the expected reshuffle in the Sindh cabinet that was supposed to be the elixir to the province’s woes fizzled out on Wednesday with only a switching of some portfolios and the same octogenarian captain steering the wayward ship.
The reshuffle took place following a meeting in Dubai presided over by PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and chairman Bilawal Bhutto.
According to a notification, Nisar Khuhro, who was the senior education minister, has been handed over the portfolios of the information and irrigation departments.
Sharjeel Inam Memon was the information and local government minister but now he is left with the portfolio of the local bodies department and given the additional ones of archives and works and services.
Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, who was the works and services minister, is now the new education minister.
Mukesh Kumar Chawla, who was the IT minister, has been handed over the departments of public health and engineering and rural development.
Dr Sikandar Mandhro has been stripped of the parliamentary affairs portfolio and has been appointed the environment and coastal development minister.
On Tuesday, PPP leaders had joined heads in Dubai to figure out solutions to the administrative and political troubles in Sindh, particularly to discuss a reshuffle in the provincial cabinet in a bid to salvage the affairs.
Besides, they had also reviewed matters related to the upcoming local government elections in the province.
The meeting to discuss the matters of Sindh’s governance was unusual in nature as it was convened in Dubai.
The recent changes in top provincial bureaucracy just a day before Eidul Fitr including the removal of Karachi police chief, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation administrator, the provincial cooperation department secretary, the Hyderabad administrator and 10 deputy commissioners was also discussed at the meeting.
On Eid while visiting Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana, the chief minister while talking to reporters had negated the impression that the changes in the provincial bureaucracy had been carried out on the directives of the provincial apex committee.
The chief minister had also hinted on the occasion that the provincial government drive would continue its drive against inefficient or corrupt officials.
The matters related to the upcoming local government elections in the province in September this year, as per the directives of the apex judiciary, were also discussed in at the meeting. The party leadership discussed the financial, administrative and technological requirements for the polls.
It is likely that local government elections will be conducted in phases in Sindh to avoid mismanagement and rigging as was reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 30 May.
The law and order situation in Sindh, especially the ongoing operation against criminals in Karachi over which the MQM has several reservations, was also discussed at the meeting.
The last time Zardari had convened such a meeting in Dubai was just before Eid on July 16 where at an Iftar-dinner reception in honour of PPP parliamentarians and ministers, he had directed the Sindh government to immediately convene a session of provincial assembly for an endorsement and assent to grant extension in Rangers’ stay in the province.

performance Praised
Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Karachi division has lauded Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and his entire team for the foolproof efforts for protecting the people of Karachi, especially during Ramzan, which led to record business activities and overall exchange of revenue amounting to Rs70 billion in Eid spending.
In a statement issued by the PPP’s Karachi division and leaders including Senator Saeed Ghani and Syed Najmi Alam, they said the chief minister had made an impressive show of his innate capabilities. They said it was his execution of administrative powers which led to the prevalence of peace and tranquillity and decreased in overall crime rate in the city.
In this regard, they said, the law enforcers, including Rangers and Sindh Police, also deserved due appreciation.
The overall law and order situation had saliently improved and the peoples’ confidence had taken a good boost, and the record spending of Rs70 billion in Eid spending was proof of that.