- Nawaz tells Sindh CM Shah to come to Islamabad to discuss standoff over Rangers’ powers in Interior Minister Nisar’s presence
- Sindh CM does not accompany PM on any of his official visits in Karachi; his office says Shah wasn’t feeling well
- Nisar Khuhro says Sindh govt will consider other options if PM Nawaz is unable to resolve issue between Sindh and Centre
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday visited Karachi but did not have a meeting with Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, who was instead asked to visit the federal capital to discuss the standoff over Rangers’ powers.
The premier did, however, emphasise during his address at the FPCCI award ceremony that the Karachi operation would continue.
Earlier, it was reported that the prime minister would defuse the tension between the federal and Sindh governments during his daylong visit to Karachi. However, sources in the Sindh CM House said that Prime Minister Nawaz asked Chief Minister Shah to visit Islamabad to discuss the issue in the presence of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar.
The two only met briefly at the airport where the Sindh CM had arrived to receive the premier as per protocol.
“There is no meeting scheduled between PM Nawaz and the Sindh chief minister,” a source had told Pakistan Today earlier in the day.
Further, the Sindh CM did not accompany the premier to Port Qasim where he addressed the business community.
“The Sindh CM received the premier at the airport but he could not attend the other events as he wasn’t feeling well,” a CM House spokesperson said.
While the provincial administration seeks conditional policing powers for the Rangers in Karachi — where the paramilitary force has been engaged in a targeted operation since September 2013 to clear the city of criminals — the Centre has turned down the request and notified a 60-day extension in the Rangers’ authority as per the previous arrangement.
The Centre rejected the Sindh Assembly resolution for clipping the Rangers powers as well as the provincial government’s subsequent letter in favour of the move, leading to a bitter disagreement between the two administrations.
Earlier, circles close to the PML-N appeared optimistic that Sharif will hold a meeting with Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad about the discord between the Centre and Sindh over Rangers’ powers.
An official press release about the premier’s visit had said: “PM Nawaz Sharif will visit Karachi on Monday (today). He will have three official engagements: visit Port Qasim Authority to review development plans of the authority; review Port Qasim’s power project and address an FPCCI function.”
At Port Qasim Authority, Sharif reviewed development plans of the authority and progress of ongoing projects.
PQA Chairman Agha Jan Akhtar and Secretary Ports and Shipping Khalid Pervaiz briefed the premier about different ongoing projects executed by the authority.
The premier was accompanied by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Water and Power and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Trade and Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir.
While at the FPCCI function, the prime minister talked about the threats of extremism and terrorism, and said that he was committed to rooting out these problems for good from Pakistan.
He said that Pakistan, and particularly Karachi, were a lot better and safer than they were three or six years ago.
He assured businessmen that the operation in Karachi would continue and congratulated the Rangers director general, Sindh police inspector general and Sindh chief secretary for bringing peace back to the port city.
He said that in September 2013, he stayed in Karachi for two days and met a number of political and business leaders and other stakeholders, all of whom agreed that conducting an operation was the only way to rid the city of extremists, terrorists and law-breakers.
He said that change was visible as foreign businessmen were now coming to the city and interacting with their local counterparts and hoped that in the days ahead, Karachi would be vibrant and serve as the country’s economic hub.
KHUHRO HAS OTHER WAYS OUT
Meanwhile, senior Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Nisar Khuhro said that the party has other options if Sharif does not resolve the tussle between the federal and Sindh governments over the issue of policing powers granted to Rangers.
“We have other options which we will consider if PM Nawaz remains unable to resolve the issue,” the provincial minister said while addressing a press conference in Larkana.
Khuhro’s statement came hours after sources said PM Nawaz asked Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to visit the federal capital to discuss the feud over Rangers powers. Further, the PPP leader accused Interior Minister Nisar of creating differences between the federal and provincial governments.
“By bypassing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Nisar is actually creating a fight between the federation and the provinces,” he added.
The minister also accused the interior minister of achieving his personal gains by issuing a notification extending Rangers’ powers in the metropolis.
“We did not resort to any unconstitutional act by passing a resolution in Sindh Assembly against unconditional powers for the paramilitary force,” he said, adding that National Action Plan should now be called ‘Nawaz League Action Plan’.
Rejecting a notion that a forward bloc was in the making in province, said anyone planning to bring a no-confidence resolution in the assembly against the speaker will not succeed.
