Governor Imran Ismail opposes possible appointment of Murtaza Wahab as Karachi administrator

In a pre-emptive move, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail has expressed his opposition to the possible move of appointing the incumbent Sindh law and environment adviser, Barrister Murtaza Wahab, as the new administrator of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

The governor expressed his views to this effect while talking to media persons on Friday after meeting Grand Democratic Alliance leader Razi Khan Jatoi at the latter’s residence.

Responding to a query on the possible move of the Sindh government to appoint Barrister Wahab as the Karachi administrator, Ismail recalled that a meeting had earlier been held at the Sindh Governor House in the presence of the prime minister and military leadership, in which it was decided that the Karachi administrator would be an apolitical person whose appointment would be made after consultations between the Sindh government and opposition political parties.

“The unilateral decision of the Sindh Government in this regard will be inappropriate by all means,” Ismail remarked and added that any such decision of the Sindh government would violate the agreement reached to this effect in the presence of the prime minister.

“Karachi is not anyone’s aunt’s house where one could impose such decisions,” the governor retorted.

He said that if issues like the appointment of the new administrator did not crop up, there would be a speedy progress in the Karachi development package.

Ismail went on to say that the problems of the people of Sindh were of fundamental nature and their resolution had to be sought.

He explained that his meeting with the GDA leader was for identifying all such issues to later compile a report that could be presented to the prime minister. “The people of Sindh have been looking towards Imran Khan as they want change,” he said.

He mentioned that it was the province of Sindh where people had not been getting the Health Card and Kissan Card.

Jatoi said the people of Sindh had become disillusioned due to the ill-performance of the provincial government.

“This [Sindh] government has done nothing in the past 13 years as people of the province are looking towards the federal government,” he said.

‘A non-issue’

Meanwhile, Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that Barrister Wahab’s appointment as the Karachi administrator was a non-issue as it was unduly being made an issue.

“Had there been a government of someone else, would the advice of the Sindh governor be followed for the administrator’s appointment?” the information minister asked.

He recalled that the Pakistan Peoples Party was ruling in Sindh and the Sindh chief minister and the provincial cabinet took decisions related to the governance in the province in accordance with the vision of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

He maintained that there was no restriction or ban on appointing people having a political background as the administrator.

“We could have made such appointments in the municipal agencies of the entire province but we didn’t do so,” said Shah. “We didn’t do so in order to run the [municipal] affairs smoothly,” he added.

Responding to the governor’s remarks, he said the office of the governor was apolitical. “He (the governor) is not the representative of federation rather

he is our representative,” he said.

The information minister, however, did not confirm that a decision had been made to appoint Barrister Wahab as the administrator. He said that so far Barrister Wahab had not been appointed as the administrator of Karachi. “It was just a suggestion as it has also appeared in the media. As such there is no issue in this appointment,” he stated.

He added that Barrister Wahab did possess a good personality as he was an educated person with untainted past. “He is an honest person and the son of the soil,” Shah said, adding that Barrister Wahab was a native of Sindh who belonged to the Urdu speaking community.

“He [Barrister Wahab] does righteous talk that hurts the governor and others,” said the information minister.

“Earlier we had no intention to appoint him [as the administrator] but now he should be made the administrator after his name has been floated,” Shah remarked. “I will now fully support him so that he gets appointed as the Karachi administrator and serves the people of the city. Otherwise, there was no such prior decision made in this regard,” he said.