KARACHI - Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan – an otherwise soft spoken person – hit back at Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) chairman Mustafa Kamal yesterday, calling him a ‘very dishonourable, low and bipolar person’.
Addressing an event here, he also revealed that the huge cache of arms and ammunitions recovered from a water tank of a house in Azizabad neighbourhood earlier this month was bought to fight against the Pakistan Army.
Governor Ebad said the law enforcement agencies have evidence the weapons belonged to an organising committee of a political party.
Former Karachi Mayor Syed Mustafa Kamal on Monday in claimed that Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan was known among certain circles as ‘Rishwatul Ebad’ for demanding bribes. He demanded the provincial government put Ebad’s name on ECL and arrest him immediately to steer the Sindh out of crisis.
Criticising former Karachi Mayor Syed Mustafa Kamal, the governor said that “in my opinion, Kamal is very dishonourable, low and bipolar person”. And, he asked PSP chief to visit a hospital to get all his diseases cured.
He alleged that Kamal introduced china-cutting in his tenure and mentioned that late social activist and columnist Ardeshir Cowasjee used to say that Kamal was digging the entire city and sending his cut to Malaysia.
Some people claim that impressive development was witnessed during Kamal’s time as MQM’s mayor but “I want to tell them that only corruption and delay in projects occurred in their tenure”, he said. The so-called developer of city ruined Lyari Expressway and K-4 projects, just to grant the contracts to their (MQM’s) own companies, he alleged.
In his contempt for Mustafa Kamal, the long-time governor - for the first time - recognised the services of former city Nazim Niamatullah Khan of Jamat-e-Islami, saying he was the man of vision and commitment and after him all other city mayors proved a disappointment.
Ebad said that Khan was an honest and visionary mayor. “He was my senior and his tenure as the city mayor and his master plans played a significant role in rapid development of Karachi; however, his successors disappointed the citizens.”
The governor said government will not spare any criminal including those involved in Baldia factory fire and China cutting of city plots. He said he will unearth the truth and take stern action against criminal element to purge the city of crime. He advised local bodies' representatives to follow Naimatullah Khan's example in serving the masses.
Speaking to media men representatives for a second time on Wednesday, Ebad revealed that the weapons found in Azizabad were the largest cache of arms and ammunition recovered in Karachi. "We believe these military weapons were stored to fight army, police and paramilitary Rangers." He revealed that members of a political party's organising committee and other senior politicians were involved in purchase of these weapons.
The governor said that crackdown against militants and terrorists would continue until its logical end and said the presence of Rangers had resulted in 80 percent decline in crime in the port city.
He said the culprits behind the May 12, 2007 bloodshed in Karachi would soon be brought to justice. “Government of Sindh now would not spare anyone who was trying to disrupt peace in the city or was involved in acts of violence in the past,” he added.
Ebad also hinted that the government was close to apprehending the killers of Hakim Muhammad Saeed – a famed medical researcher and scholar – who was assassinated in Karachi on October 17, 1998. "We are investigating those leads. Those who are portraying themselves as innocent are hiding behind Hakeem's murder case. If needed, we will reopen this case.”
PSP leader Anis Qaimkhani, responding to governor’s allegations, reiterated his party’s demand to arrest him immediately. He said that PSP Chairman Mustafa Kamal earlier had demanded the ruling party should put Ebad’s name on Exit Control List (ECL) as during his long time tenure he carried out massive corruption. He said that the governor had turned the Governor House into a political office and was patronising the criminal elements.
Talking about May 12 carnage, he said it looks as Governor Ebad was unaware about the outside world, adding that he had been hiding in Governor House for years and if fair investigation was carried out, Ishratul Ebad would be found involved in the May 12 killings.
Parsing the services of his party leader, Qaimkhani said that record development work was carried out when Kamal was mayor and that truth was not hidden from anyone. Kamal’s services were recognised both nationally and internationally, added. He asked the governor to tender his resignation.