Imran should name those threatening him: CM

Former prime minister Imran Khan should disclose the names of those threatening him so that the authorities can take necessary action against them.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said this on Sunday while addressing a press conference along with the organisers of the My Karachi Expo at the Expo Centre Karachi. He asked if the former prime minister had blocked the phone numbers of those he believed to be his enemies, how he received the threats he talked about in his public meeting in Sialkot.

Commenting on Khan’s announcement that if God forbid he was killed, the names of those responsible for his killing would be disclosed through a pre-recorded video, Shah said the former PM should better name those people right now.

The CM said that Khan had no respect for any institution or person. “He is trying to blackmail everyone to return to power.” According to Shah, Khan’s government was toppled through a political and democratic process, but he was accusing his opponents of acting upon a foreign conspiracy.

To a question about the state of the national economy, the CM said that three-and-a-half years ago, Pakistan Peoples Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari had offered Khan on the floor of the National Assembly to sign a charter of economy but the former PM did not pay any heed to that.

“Zardari is a farsighted and seasoned politician who keeps his eye on national and international issues,” Shah said and added that Khan being a blind politician did not take Zardari’s offer seriously and now the precarious situation of the economy was in front of everyone.

The CM assured the media that the coalition government in the Centre was capable enough to control the situation. To a question about the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), he said that they had signed an agreement with the government to amend the local government law.

“The law is in the assembly, and it would be amended as per our agreed points,” he said. On the MQM’s inclusion in the provincial government, he said it would be in the interest of the Sindh government if a larger party like the MQM joined it.

Replying to a question about a police raid at the residence of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Haleem Adil Sheikh, the CM said that the law was taking its own course. “If he [Sheikh] violates the law, of course the law will take its course,” Shah said, adding that everyone must abide by the law.

To a question about increasing accidents on the Indus Highway, he said that it was originally constructed by the PPP government in 1993 and it was one of the best roads of the country. “In 2017 a request was made to the federal government for dualisation of the Indus Highway from Jasmhoro to Sehwan,” the CM recalled, stating that then federal government asked the provincial government to bear the 50 per cent cost for the project.

He added that he had paid Rs7 billion as the 50 per cent cost for the dualisation of the road to the federal government in 2017 but work on it was almost stopped during the tenure of Imran Khan’s government.

Shah went on to say that when he tried to approach then state minister [Murad Saeed] to discuss the slow pace of work on the road, he refused to meet him. “Imran Khan is responsible for all the losses of the lives taking place on the Indus Highway because his government failed to complete it,” he said.

The CM said that he had also offered the federal government to return his government’s money and pay its share to the Sindh government so that the latter could construct the Jamshoro-Sehwan road.

“We have constructed 62-kilometre Nawabshah-Sanghar Road in a record time of four months but then PTI government turned down the offer. Now I have requested Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and he has vowed to complete the construction of the Indus Highway on a fast-track basis,” he said.

To a question about water shortage in Sindh, the CM said that in 2018, the attorney general of Pakistan had submitted his report to the Council of Common Interests on the issue, but Khan, as an inefficient prime minister, could not take a decision on the distribution of water as per the water accord of 1991.