KARACHI - Differences among the ruling allies further widened as many provincial ministers, advisers and special assistants on Saturday submitted their resignations at the CM’s Secretariat to protest the PPP’s solo flight of promulgating the ‘Sindh Peoples Local Government Ordinance (SPLGO) 2012’, which has not been made public so far.
Moreover, Federal Minister Khuda Bux Rajar, the PML-F’s representative in the federal cabinet, also tendered his resignation, which was sent to President Asif Ali Zardari for his approval.
On the other hand, Pir Pagara, the chief of PML-F and spiritual leader of Hurs, announced not to reverse the decision to quit the PPP government, saying re-joining the ruling coalition was not an option.
The development came despite the fact that Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on late Friday night contacted the leadership of PML-F, PML-Q and NPP and assured them of removing their reservations on the new local government law in the Sindh Assembly. But according to sources, Pir Pagara ignored the phone call of the chief minister and instructed the ministers and advisers of his party to submit their resignations immediately.
Talking to media after a meeting with ANP Sindh chief Senator Shahi Syed, who met with him at his residence Raja House, Pir Pagara said the decision to quit the PPP government was final, adding that the re-joining the ruling coalition was out of question.
Shahi Syed said he would not meet with the chief minister or his ministers as the PPP’s provincial leadership lacked powers, adding that any meeting with Qaim Ali Shah was wastage of time.
He said the PPP leadership should contact with the central leadership of his party, if they wanted to do so.
Earlier in the meeting, Shahi Syed discussed various issues to adopt a joint strategy against the recently promulgated SPLGO 2012.
PML-F leader Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh said they had returned all the government facilities including official vehicles, staff and offices to the government.
He further said the PPP government took unilateral decision of promulgation of ordinance and did not consider the PML-F as an ally.
By enforcing metropolitan and district governments, the PML-F leader, alleged that the PPP government had divided the province in two administrative systems, which was condemnable.
On the directives of Pir Pagara, the Sindh cabinet members of PML-F including Adviser to CM on Special Education Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh, parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly and Minister Science Jam Madad Ali Khan, Minister for Auqaf Dr Rafiq Banbhan as well as advisers and special assistants arrived at the CM’s Secretariat and submitted their resignation on Saturday evening.
The National People’s Party (NPP) of late Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi also severed its ties with the ruling PPP as its Minister for Livestock Mir Abid Hussain Jatoi also tendered resignation.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Sheharyar Khan Mehar, the parliamentary leader of PML-Q in Sindh Assembly and provincial minister for alternative energy, also submitted his resignation from Sindh cabinet. Furthermore, his father Federal Minister Ghaus Bux Mehar, provincial chief of PML-Q, had also resigned from the cabinet and hoped that the party’s Sindh General-Secretary Haleem Adil Shaikh, who is adviser to CM for relief department, would resign from the provincial cabinet.
Qaim Ali Shah held a meeting with cabinet members from the PPP at the CM’s Secretariat and discussed post-local government ordinance situation, with special reference to resignations by the allied parties.
The meeting was attended by Minister Pir Mazharul Haq, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Agha Siraj Durrani, Manzoor Wasan, Ayaz Soomro, Jam Saifullah Dharejo, Sajid Jokhio, Akhtar Jadoon, Jam Mehtab Khan Dahar, Abdul Haq Bhurt, Mukesh Kumar Chawla, Nargis ND Khan, Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto, Syed Ali Nawaz Shah Rizvi, Zahid Hussain Bhurgari, Dr Mohan Lal, Rafique Engineer, Agha Taimoor Khan, Haji Muzaffar Ali Shujra, Sadiq Ali Memon, Nadeem Bhutto, Sharjeel Enam Memon and others.
The meeting reviewed and examined the effects of SPLGO 2012 and apprehensions expressed by the coalition partners, opposition and nationalists group.
It was decided that the ministers, elected representatives and party office bearers at all levels would interact with people of every walk of life to apprise them about ground realities and facts concerning the content of the SPLGO 2012. The meeting agreed to take all the coalition partners and other parties into confidence to address their doubts and fears.
Meanwhile, Qaim Ali Shah also summoned an emergency meeting of parliamentary party today (Sunday) at the CM’s House. All the MPAs have been advised to attend the meeting as they would be given directions and guidelines from the party on the local government law so that they could defend the move at various levels.
It is said that some of the party leaders and parliamentarians are also unhappy over the move to please the MQM and impose the SPGLO 2012. It is worth mentioning that the overwhelming majority of PPP has always opposed the restoration of previous local government setup, introduced by the Musharraf regime in 2001.