PPP decides to replace Sindh CM, says Farhatullah Babar

KARACHI: The Pakistan People’s Party has decided to make changes in the Sindh cabinet including bringing in a new chief minister, party spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said on Sunday.

Babar said the decision was taken when “some senior leaders of the party today called on former President Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Dubai”.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah was also present during the meeting.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is scheduled to return to Karachi in the coming week to meet provincial party leaders and MPAs before finalising changes in the Sindh cabinet.

PPP leadership in Dubai for crucial meeting

On Saturday, CM Sindh Qaim Ali Shah along with senior PPP leader Faryal Talpur and Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal left the metropolis for Dubai, where PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Asif Ali Zardari were waiting for them to begin crucial deliberations.

The leadership of PPP were expected to hold discussions with Asif Zardari on two crucial issues concerning Sindh — another extension in Rangers’ special powers for Karachi and, more importantly, whether the paramilitary force be allowed to exercise the same policing powers in the rest of the province.

Rangers’ raid-and-arrest powers have expired as the last extension, which was given by the provincial government for 77 days and only for the Karachi division, ended on July 19.

The PPP-led Sindh government fears that the Rangers will target its cadre if it widens the scope of their special policing powers to the whole of Sindh.

Karachi corps comman­der had also met CM Sindh earlier in the week, and had asked for renewal of Rangers’ special powers and an extension of their mandate to the whole of the province.

Shah told the corps commander that he would take a decision only after consulting the party high command that includes — or solely comprising — former president Asif Zardari.

Zardari and PPP chairman Bhutto-Zardari were expected to also review the affairs of the Sindh government for which Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah had also arrived in Dubai.

Before leaving for Dubai, the CM Sindh told reporters at Karachi airport that the party leadership would “review performance of the government and set new targets for development works”.