KARACHI: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail hinted on Sunday that the transformation plan by the federal government will not be limited to Karachi only as it will be expanded to other parts of the province, ARY News reported.
A high-level meeting was convened in Governor House today to discuss Karachi Transformation Plan which was attended by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) central leaders Asad Umar, Ali Zaidi and provincial lawmakers of the political party.
The lawmakers praised the Centre’s contribution in the form of transformation package and presented their suggestions and recommendations, for laying out the plan, to the federal ministers.
Talking to the media after the meeting, the Sindh governor Imran Ismail said that their government devised “the best strategy” to fend off Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermaths. He claimed that the world is recognizing our strategies today.
He extolled that Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced an excellent package for the transformation of Karachi.
He said that out of the Rs1.1 trillion financial package for Karachi, the federal government was to pay 62 pc of the entire amount while the remaining 28 pc was to be incurred on the provincial exchequer.
Ismail asserted that all the state institution are working in an organized manner to “address the issues of Karachi and Sindh”. He said that the development plans were not limited to Karachi alone but will extend to other parts of the Sindh as well.
He nevertheless wondered whether the chairman of Pakistan People Party (PPP), Sindh’s ruling party, was misguided for repeating the statistics on Karachi package over and over again. “It was agreed with Sindh government that no political games will be played over Karachi issues.”
He remarked that Bilawal Bhutto was very late to reach out, indicating to the issues faced by Karachi following the flooding situation. He said that for the sake of Karachi, all the political parties are on the same page and are seriously deliberating over its development.
The governor said that ‘Younis Sain’ called on PM yesterday where Imran Khan had assured him to visit rural parts of Sindh.
Talking about the achievements in fighting the global pandemic COVID-19, Ismail said that some people ridiculed the smart lockdown policy that was exercised by the government in a bid to keep the economy afloat while also fighting the spread of the pandemic. However continued, “But today the world acknowledges that the smart lockdown was the best option.”
Ismail added that now they validate Pakistan for having beaten the Covid-19 pandemic and asserted, “They [the world] are now building upon Pakistani strategies to beat coronavirus.”
He noted that sports activities have now been revived in Pakistan, talking in the backdrop of COVID-19 lockdown.
