KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has emerged as the single largest party after the local bodies’ elections in Karachi. Therefore, it has the right to install one of its members as the city’s mayor.

“Had the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) not boycotted the (local government) elections, our opponents would not have taken such a large number of seats, and this they know very well,” he said. He was talking to media personnel after presiding over the convocation of National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) at the Hindu Gymkhana on Tuesday.

In response to a question, he said that there were certain compulsions; that’s why the Sindh government wanted to delay the elections. Otherwise, the PPP would have won even more seats.

“We had requested the MQM to avoid boycotting the elections, but their party decided to do so. As a result, their votes went into their (Jamaat-e-Islami) share. Otherwise, they (JI) were not in a position to take such a (high) number of seats,” said the chief minister.

In Karachi’s history, he said, the PPP appointed its administrator for the first time (Murtaza Wahab) and what he delivered is not a secret for any Karachiite. “Our party has a history of serving this city and its people, and insha-Allah we will be serving them as chief minister and mayor,” he said.

Talking about rehabilitation of the flood-affected people, Murad Ali Shah said that he had convened a post-Geneva conference on January 8 in which the donor agencies would be given projects for the financial support they had pledged in Geneva.

He said that the donors would be requested to execute the projects under their own organisations or their vendors. “Everything must be transparent.”

The chief minister said that over two million houses, including katcha ones, were damaged in the calamity.

“We have conducted a survey, which was a gigantic task, and after the conference we will start distributing money through well-reputed NGOs that have been made partners for the housing project.”

Answering another question, he said that around 20,000 school buildings were damaged by the heavy rains and floods.

“In such dangerous buildings students cannot be allowed to take classes,” he said. “Therefore, we have decided to house such schools in tents so that the children’s education could continue.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023