Minister warns anti-corruption officials against abusing authority

Taking notice of reports pertaining to abuse of powers by anti-corruption officials in Sindh, Minister for Anti-Corruption and Irrigation Sohail Anwar Khan Siyal has warned officials of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) against transgressing their authority while performing their official duties.

A handout issued on Sunday quoted the minister as saying that officials of the ACE should gather all the necessary information before conducting raids on offices of any government agency or institution in the province.

He said that the officials and staffers of the ACE should keep in mind the domain of their professional obligations and also remain fully neutral while investigating any corruption case. Siyal added that the prosecution staff related to anti-corruption cases in the province should perform their duties in the most transparent and neutral manner.

He said that investigation officials should keep up-to-date their performance reports. Complainants who lodged anti-corruption cases in the province should keep aside their personal biases, and likes and dislikes while fulfilling their duties so that the process of anti-corruption should continue in the province without any interruption, he said, adding that the ACE had been continuing with its activities in the most neutral and impartial manner so as to produce far-reaching results as far as the campaign against corruption was concerned.

Coastal areas

Sindh Environment and Law Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab said the coastal belt of the province, especially the town of Thatta located on it, was all set to become the game-changer for Pakistan’s economy.

Talking to a group of journalists here on Sunday, the provincial adviser said that the government had successfully carried out the pilot project to plant oil palm trees in the Khatore forest area of trees.

He said that oil palm plantation near the coastal belt of the province would help save precious foreign currency reserves of the country being spent on importing palm oil. He said that Pakistan used to spend 2.2 billion dollars annually on the import of palm oil.

Wahab added that the relevant experts from China and Malaysia had said that the oil to be extracted from oil palm plantation of the province would match the international standards set for the purpose.

He said that a Malaysian company had collaborated with the provincial government for oil palm plantation in the province whose coastal belt seemed most suitable for such cultivation. He said that oil palm plantation of Khatore, Thatta, was all set for the extraction of palm oil.