KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday said that the flight of capital from Karachi to other countries had stopped after the restoration of peace through the targeted operation but now investment is taking place in the city.
The chief minister, in his address to participants of the National Security Workshop, said that the law and order situation was worst in the city which severely affected daily life, development, business activities and tarnished the image of the city.
“The businessmen were annoyed by extortionists and decided to shift their capital industry to other countries,” he said, adding that target killing had made almost every citizen insecure.
He appreciated the brave and courageous people of the city who have the ability to face every kind of situation and patiently faced the wrath of terrorists, target killers and extortionists, and still extended unflinching support to the government and law enforcement agencies to carry out targeted operation successfully.
CM Sindh said that now the situation is more than normal. “Every day I am holding meetings with investors. The foreigners and multinational companies and a group of companies are working to invest in the city and in rural areas like Thar,” he said.
He said that in the first phase the city was purged of criminals and then reconstruction of terror-stricken city was started, and now there are several development projects in progress, which is changing the face of the city and improving its image.
Replying to a question, he said that the terror financing has a double-faced in this city as on one hand they collected extortion from industrialists, traders and transporters and forcibly collect hides and fitra from the people.
“This was stopped through a vigorous targeted operation,” he said claiming that not a single innocent person was killed and normal life continued. He appreciated the police, Rangers and other law enforcement agencies who sacrificed their lives just for the sake of peace to this city.
People of Sindh have rejected so-called nationalists
CM Sindh replying to a question said that the so-called nationalists have been rejected by the people of the province. They believe in the federation and have always voted for the strengthening of the federation.
“The so-called nationalists have never won even a union council seat in the election,” he said and added that they are the rejected group of people.
Talking about natural gas, CM Sindh said that the province of Sindh produces 71 percent of 1,558 billion cubic feet of gas produced all over the country. The share of Sindh in power generation is 28 percent of the total power generation capacity of 22,797 MW in Pakistan.
As far as oil production is concerned, Sindh produces 44 percent of 24.573 million barrels of total oil produced in the country. He said that Sindh has 185 billion tons of coals reserves, out of which 175 are in Thar.
The chief minister said that road network has been developed in the rural areas and Thar has become the hub of business activities.
He said the government has done a considerable better work in the health sector as National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) satellite centres have been established, and an institute of health science has been established in Gambat where German doctors are operating and training local doctors.
He deplored that the federal government did not incorporate the suggestions of the provincial government in the recently-conducted census. “We have conveyed our reservation to them and have also formed a technical committee to point out the discrepancies in the results,” he said.
CM Sindh said that he has not fully developed the province but with his work has set a direction. He said that things are moving properly, and hoped Sindh would become a prosperous, developed and peaceful part of the country very soon.