KARACHI: The Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said he was willing to accept any decision made by party leaders, as a response to the decision made by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders to bring a new chief minister.
“My fate as Sindh CM is in the hands of the party leaders and I will accept any decision they keep before me,” CM Shah said upon his arrival from Dubai on Monday.
Earlier, during a meeting co-chaired by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Dubai on Sunday, the party’s top leadership has decided to bring changes in the Sindh cabinet, including bringing in a new chief minister.
Attendees in the meeting included Chief Minister Shah, Senior Minister Murad Ali Shah, Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal, Law Adviser Murtaza Wahab former federal interior minister Rehman Malik, MNA Faryal Talpur and ex-secretary general of the party Latif Khosa.
“Today, the PPP decided to make changes in the Sindh cabinet, including bringing in a new chief minister,” PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar said in a statement issued after the Dubai meeting.
“The decision to change the chief minister was made by Bilawal, not Zardari,” former PPP secretary general Latif Khosa added. “The PPP chairman took the decision after reviewing the overall situation in the province and discussing the matter with all party leaders.”
Khosa said the provincial cabinet would be reshuffled after intra-party consultations. Babar added that Bilawal was expected to return to Karachi this week to meet party leaders and legislators before finalising changes in the cabinet.
While the party did not cite any reasons for the removal of the chief minister, according to reports, Qaim had a soft corner for the Rangers and was in favour of extending policing powers of the paramilitary force in the province.
Recently, when the policing powers for Rangers expired, Qaim had attempted to convince the party’s leadership (Zardari) to grant an extension in the powers for the sake of peace in Karachi; however, it seemed to have not gone down well.
This was Qaim’s third tenure as chief minister. He spent nearly 10 years in the office, the longest period among his peers. He, however, faced scathing criticism during his past two tenures with allegations ranging from bad governance to incompetence in handling various governmental issues.
Since the party has a simple majority in the Sindh Assembly, it can easily elect a new leader of the house. It has 92 legislators, followed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement with 51 MPAs, PML-Functional 11, PML-N 10 and PTI has three members. According to a source in the PPP, Murad Ali Shah is likely to replace Qaim Ali Shah as the Sindh chief minister.
