ISLAMABAD - Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah alongwith his couple of Cabinet colleagues arrived in Federal Capital yesterday for a scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday (today) to sort out Centre-province tiff over the Rangers powers.
Sources aware of the developments taking place on this front informed The Nation that Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal and Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah would assist Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah in meeting with Prime Minister while Interior Minister Ch. Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and a couple of other Federal Cabinet members would also be attendance to assist the Prime Minister.
A credible source in PPP informed that besides taking up the core issue of bringing Rangers under the command of provincial government as per the Sindh Assembly resolution the Chief Minister would also take up the issue the release of funds for the ongoing operation against militants in the province with specific reference to Karachi operation.
Sindh Government has time and again made it public that Federal Government had not given a single penny to the province for the ongoing military operation despite several commitments made in this connection by the Prime Minister over the past one year.
The source said that Sindh Government would demand provision of Rs. nine billion for effectively continuing the ongoing targeted operation against militants in the port city. The amount would mainly be used for the capacity building of law enforcement agencies and to meet the day to day needs of the operation.
Sources further said that Chief Minister Sindh would also stress the need of activation of the Apex Committee formed under his head to have a strict monitoring on the Rangers operation so that the whole exercise would remain within the ambit of law and Constitution.
As the meeting was scheduled early in the morning that was the reason the Chief Minister alongwith his team has arrived in Islamabad.
The Prime Minister after meeting with Chief Minister Sindh and his team would leave for Zoab to inaugurate the upgrade of road network in connection with the western route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Sources in the PPP informed that before arriving here Sindh Chief Minister had a detailed meeting with his legal team and Cabinet colleagues wherein it was decided that Chief Minister would try to convince Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to bring the Rangers role in the cosmopolitan under the subservience of his administration as per the Sindh Assembly resolution and also press Federal Government to withdraw the notification of extending the Rangers in the province for two months with absolute powers.
In the meeting held in Karachi the legal wizard and close confidant of Asif Ali Zardari, Farooq H.Naek briefed the participants on the legal position of the Sindh Government in the matter and it was decided that Chief Minister place all these things before the Prime Minister.
Sources said that in case of Chief Minister’s failure to convince the Prime Minister on his point then the Sindh Government could opt for other options to resolve the issue including taking the matter to Council of Common Interests(CCI) or moving the apex court on the issue.
When asked whether the Sindh Government could consider sending back the Rangers the source said that it is also one of the option but it was not on the table so far.