Sindh Senior Minister Zulfiqar Mirza took exception on Monday to Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s “frequent visits” to Karachi, telling Malik not to come to the city for 15 days. Mirza lost his cool in a meeting of the Sindh cabinet chaired by the prime minister.
The former Sindh home minister held his party colleague responsible for the deteriorating law and order in Karachi. “Malik has brought back criminals who were sent to jail in interior Sindh,” a fuming Mirza said, adding that law and order was a provincial subject in which the federation should not interfere.
He said the prime minister should ban Malik’s entry into the province, adding that the provincial authorities would impose the writ of law and act against criminals on their own. Gilani and the other members of the meeting did not react to Mirza’s statements and tried to calm him down. Addressing the meeting, Malik said he would return to Islamabad if he was not welcome in Karachi. To this, Gilani said Malik visited Karachi on orders from President Asif Ali Zardari and his services were known to everyone.
In a late night development, President Asif Ali Zardari summoned Mirza to Islamabad for an explanation after Malik complained to the president about the former Sindh home minister’s ‘rude behaviour’.
Stay out of Karachi, Mirza tells Malik
