KHAIRPUR: Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has supported the federal interior minister’s belief that there is no presence of the militant Islamic State group, saying that its name is being used to terrify people.
Speaking to the media here late on Sunday evening, Mr Shah categorically stated that “the IS doesn’t exist in any part of Sindh”.
According to him, some banned outfits and terrorist organisations were using the name of the IS for their ulterior motives.
The chief minister was on a visit to his hometown to inaugurate several departments, including petroleum, mechanical, electrical and natural gas, as well as an auditorium and a mosque on the Z.A. Bhutto campus of the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET).
In reply to a question, Mr Shah said that all issues relating to the education and health sectors pending before the Council of Common Interests (CCI) would be taken up in its upcoming meeting. He expressed his confidence that Sindh would strongly plead its case and continue to struggle for attaining its constitutional rights but all issues would be resolved amicably and without any confrontation with the Centre.
Earlier, speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Mr Shah announced that MUET campuses would also be established in Jacobabad, Umerkot and Mithi. The Khairpur campus would soon get the status of a university, he added.
He said his government was working on establishing schools and colleges in each and every taluka in order to increase literacy rate and promote higher education.
He noted that after Karachi, Khairpur was the biggest district both in terms of territory and population. He said he felt immense pleasure to see 600 engineers emerging from the Khairpur campus of the MUET.
He said in his recent meeting with the World Bank delegation in Karachi, he briefed them about progress of Sindh which they appreciated. The WB president, he added, assured him of further financial assistance in the education, agriculture and industry sectors.
The chief minister also laid the foundation stone of separate hostels for boys and girls near the Khairpur railway station. He performed the ground-breaking of a shopping mall, employees residential quarters, playground, gymkhana and other facilities on the campus.
MUET’s Jamshoro vice chancellor, Mohammad Aslam Uqaili, and Khairpur campus pro-vice chancellor Engineer Ghulam Sarwar Kandhir also spoke
Sukkur Commissioner Abbas Baloch, DIG Azar Rasheed, Khairpur Deputy Commissioner Fayaz Jatoi, SSP Pir Mohammad Shah and other senior officials attended the ceremony.
Scouts jamboree
Addressing the 5th Shaheed Benazir Bhutto scouts jamboree at the District Scouts Ground in the city, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah highlighted the role of scouts in the circumstances created by acts of terrorism in the country.
He said scouts bore the big responsibility of helping security forces in curbing terrorism and mitigating sufferings of the mankind in such circumstances.
Mr Shah said that Chief of the Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif along with the federal and provincial governments had been taking effective measures to root out terrorism from the country.
Due to the joint efforts, the law and order across the country had remarkably improved, he noted.
The newly appointed Deputy Chief Scouting Commissioner of Sindh Syed Abid Ali Shah briefed the chief minister on the schedule of scouts activities to be held across Sindh in the coming days.
Senior officials of the divisional and district administrations attended t
