CM Murad says Afghan war tore apart fabric of plural society in Karachi

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday said the Afghan war tore apart fabric of plural society in Karachi.

“Sindh is the land of Sufis, therefore under the influence of saintly people like Shah Bhittai, Sachal Sarmast, Lal Shahbaz Qaladaner (Syed Usman) and others. The people of this province believe in coexistence and are above the religio-sectarian considerations,” he said while addressing a 50-member delegation of faculty members and student-officers of Command and Staff College Quetta who called on him here at the CM House on their study tour.

“This is why not a single terrorist has emerged from this land so far though it has been galvanized with extremists and fanatics who landed here after Afghan war,” he said.

The chief minister said that Sindh had suffered a lot at the hands of dictators. Former army chief general Zia ul Haq penetrated over one million Afghanis in Sindh.

“As a result, heroin and Kalashnikov landed here along with the immigrants and badly destroyed peaceful plural society of the province,” he said adding that this was the period when people were divided on sectarian and linguistic grounds.

The law and order in the whole province became so precarious that Karachi turned into no-go areas and in the rest of Sindh dacoits established their sway, he maintained.

Further shedding light on street and other crimes, Murad Shah said the highways were unsafe to travel and kidnapping for ransom had become order of the day.

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“In Karachi different gangs, terrorists and out-laws had challenged the state. Kidnapping for ransom, target killing, extortion and terrorism tore apart the socio-economic fabric of the city,” he said.

CM Murad said that the successive governments launched some cleanup operations in the megalopolis but no operation could produce congenial results.

He said that the policemen who had participated in the operations were killed in target when the operations were called off. The police force lost their confidence and morale to perform, therefore their efficiency came to a standstill, he added.

“The Sindh government with its political will and support of people of Karachi started targeted operation and restored two-decade old worst law and order situation,” he said.

The chief minister said the law enforcement agencies worked hard and made the bloodless targeted operation successful.

He said the provincial government made recruitments in police purely on merit, developed their capacity by giving them special trainings by Pakistan Army, enhanced their salaries, equipped them with latest weapons and compensation for the families of the policemen who lost their lives in the line of their duties. He added that these measures improved our policing system.

Talking about his efforts for developments, the CM said that after restoration of peace he had given special focus to the development of infrastructure in Karachi, Hyderabad and other districts of the province.

“Sindh is the only province in the country which has constructed two bridges on the River Indus,” he said and added that the third one would be built on the River Indus at Kandhkot-Ghotki.

He said that 80-year-old drainage lines had been replaced in Saddar, storm water drains had been reconstructed, underpasses and bridges were being built, apart from attracting investment in the province so that employment opportunities could be generated.

Murad Shah briefed the visiting army officers about the efforts of his government in health sector, education and poverty alleviation. He added that the PPP had developed a new political culture of co-existence and “we have never victimized any political opponent,” he said.

He answered questions of the officers also. The home secretary gave them presentation on law and order while chairman P&D briefed the participants about development portfolio of the province.