ISLAMABAD: Three back to back meetings held on Wednesday in the
Presidency on the situation in Karachi resulted in a decision taken by
the coalition partners in the provincial government to authorize
President Asif Ali Zardari to hold political negotiations with all
political forces for bringing peace and normalcy to the metropolitan
city besides taking appropriate administrative and law and order
measures for the purpose.
Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah
Babar said that the decision authorizing the President to hold
political negotiations was taken at the first in the series of meetings
of the Sindh cabinet comprising of provincial ministers belonging to
the PPP, ANP, PML-Q and PML-Functional and chaired by President Asif
Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani. The meeting
reiterated Government resolve to restore peace in Karachi at all cost
and to bring the culprits to justice regardless of their affiliations,
if any. The meeting that lasted for over two hours was attended among
others by Mr. A. Rehman Malik, Federal Minister for Interior, Makhdoom
Amin Fahim, Federal Minister for Commerce, Senator Dr Babar Awan, Chief
Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, and members of Sindh Cabinet
belonging to all coalition parties in the province. Matters
concerning law and order situation, coalition matters and performance
of various provincial ministries were discussed during the meeting.
The President during the meeting called upon all the political forces
to complement Government’s efforts in bringing peace and normalcy to
the city and to bring the criminal elements to justice. He said that we
believe in taking along all the political forces on the issues of
national importance and would continue to do so in future also. He said
that Karachi was not only the economic hub of the country but also a
factor of social and political stability and had international
significance. The President called for emergent administrative,
political and law and order measures to bring peace to Karachi.
Addressing the coalition partners the President said that we have to
resolve this issue ourselves and at the earliest keeping in view the
importance of this city and its role in the economy of the country.
The representatives of coalition parties also spoke on the situation in
Karachi and put forth various suggestions to address problem of peace
and security in the city. Home Minister Sindh Mr. Manzoor Hussain
Wasan and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah briefed the meeting
about the recent situation in Karachi and the steps taken so far to
restore peace. Briefing the meeting, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali
Shah said that police and rangers were fully prepared and motivated to
maintain peace in Karachi. The President said that the meeting was
very important which could be gauged from the fact that the issue was
being debated almost simultaneously in the National Assembly and he had
convened it in the month of Ramadan at a short notice. Fateha was
also offered for innocent people who have lost their lives during the
recent wave of killings in Karachi. Farhatullah Babar said that the
larger meeting of coalition partners was followed by another meeting of
the President with the PPP Ministers in the province during which not
only the subject of peace in Karachi was taken up further but the
performance of various PPP ministers was also reviewed. On a question
by the President about the implementation of his previous directives to
release funds for strengthening the provincial police the provincial
finance minister informed that the first installment of 450 million
rupees of the five billion rupees package for revamping the Sindh
police had been released. The President directed that the remaining
amount should also be progressively released to meet the police demands
for vehicles, APCs, bullet proof jackets, helmets, weapons and other
accessories, he said. Yet another smaller meeting, the third in the
series, was held soon thereafter to further fine tune the proposals in
the first meeting to carry out negotiations with all political forces
and take other measures for bringing normalcy to Karachi.
ISLAMABAD:
Three back to back meetings held on Wednesday in the Presidency on the
situation in Karachi resulted in a decision taken by the coalition
partners in the provincial government to authorize President Asif Ali
Zardari to hold political negotiations with all political forces for
bringing peace and normalcy to the metropolitan city besides taking
appropriate administrative and law and order measures for the purpose.
Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said that the
decision authorizing the President to hold political negotiations was
taken at the first in the series of meetings of the Sindh cabinet
comprising of provincial ministers belonging to the PPP, ANP, PML-Q and
PML-Functional and chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime
Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani. The meeting reiterated Government
resolve to restore peace in Karachi at all cost and to bring the
culprits to justice regardless of their affiliations, if any. The
meeting that lasted for over two hours was attended among others by Mr.
A. Rehman Malik, Federal Minister for Interior, Makhdoom Amin Fahim,
Federal Minister for Commerce, Senator Dr Babar Awan, Chief Minister
Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, and members of Sindh Cabinet belonging to all
coalition parties in the province. Matters concerning law and order
situation, coalition matters and performance of various provincial
ministries were discussed during the meeting. The President during
the meeting called upon all the political forces to complement
Government’s efforts in bringing peace and normalcy to the city and to
bring the criminal elements to justice. He said that we believe in
taking along all the political forces on the issues of national
importance and would continue to do so in future also. He said that
Karachi was not only the economic hub of the country but also a factor
of social and political stability and had international significance.
The President called for emergent administrative, political and law and
order measures to bring peace to Karachi. Addressing the coalition
partners the President said that we have to resolve this issue
ourselves and at the earliest keeping in view the importance of this
city and its role in the economy of the country. The representatives
of coalition parties also spoke on the situation in Karachi and put
forth various suggestions to address problem of peace and security in
the city. Home Minister Sindh Mr. Manzoor Hussain Wasan and Chief
Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah briefed the meeting about the recent
situation in Karachi and the steps taken so far to restore peace.
Briefing the meeting, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that
police and rangers were fully prepared and motivated to maintain peace
in Karachi. The President said that the meeting was very important
which could be gauged from the fact that the issue was being debated
almost simultaneously in the National Assembly and he had convened it
in the month of Ramadan at a short notice. Fateha was also offered
for innocent people who have lost their lives during the recent wave of
killings in Karachi. Farhatullah Babar said that the larger meeting
of coalition partners was followed by another meeting of the President
with the PPP Ministers in the province during which not only the
subject of peace in Karachi was taken up further but the performance of
various PPP ministers was also reviewed. On a question by the
President about the implementation of his previous directives to
release funds for strengthening the provincial police the provincial
finance minister informed that the first installment of 450 million
rupees of the five billion rupees package for revamping the Sindh
police had been released. The President directed that the remaining
amount should also be progressively released to meet the police demands
for vehicles, APCs, bullet proof jackets, helmets, weapons and other
accessories, he said. Yet another smaller meeting, the third in the
series, was held soon thereafter to further fine tune the proposals in
the first meeting to carry out negotiations with all political forces
and take other measures for bringing normalcy to Karachi. Online
