Centre asked Sindh to raze buildings near US consulate: Murad

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Monday rejected the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s claim that its federal government was deposed through a US conspiracy.

Responding to harsh criticism by opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh, the Sindh CM said on the floor of the Sindh Assembly that his government had received two letters from the foreign ministry during the PTI government for the demolition of houses or storeys of some buildings near the US Consulate in Karachi.

He said that on December 1, 2021, the Sindh government had received a letter from a federal ministry asking for demolitions surrounding the US consulate. He added that his government received another letter on April 1, 2022 from the foreign ministry seeking demolitions.

Shah said that this new letter was sent after Imran Khan had shown a letter claiming to be proof of US conspiracy on March 27. He wondered that on the one hand, the PTI government was claiming that the US had launched a conspiracy against it, and on the other it was asking the Sindh government to demolish buildings around the US consulate.

The CM also stated that before the MQM-P left the coalition of the PTI government, MQM-P Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui asked the PTI to provide them evidence of foreign conspiracy and promised that the MQM-P would not leave the PTI if the claims about the conspiracy were true. However, as the PTI failed to provide any evidence, the MQM-P left the Imran Khan government. He said the government of Imran Khan was removed through constitutional means. The Sindh CM termed the foreign conspiracy rhetoric of the PTI a drama being staged by Imran Khan, and said the “foreign PM” resorted to spreading false claim of the foreign conspiracy once he lost majority’s support in the National Assembly.