Reconciliation: PPP-MQM negotiations going on, says CM
Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2015,Source
KARACHI: The negotiation between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement is going on and the latter will soon join the Sindh government, claimed Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Saturday.
Talking to the media after distributing cheques and iPads among the position-holders for all the education boards in the province, he said, “The PPP believes in the reconciliation policy. Leaders of both the parties want to work together for the betterment of the residents of Sindh.”
During the ceremony, Shah gave awards to around 45 students who secured first positions in the science, commerce and general groups from all secondary and higher secondary educational boards.
Each student was given Rs0.1 million and an iPad as a token of appreciation for their achievement. Shah also distributed Rs0.1 million to each student’s school. “We have initiated this trend to show our appreciation for our students for the first time and it will continue,” he explained.
The CM announced that 10,000 teachers will soon be appointed on merit. “Previous governments, especially that of [former President] Pervez Musharraf, received loans from the World Bank in the name of educational reforms but they wasted the funds and hired teachers against the rules,” he claimed. “We are fulfilling the requirements of the donors by conducting the tests and interviews in a transparent manner.”
Regarding his dispute with provincial chief secretary Sajjad Saleem Hotiana, Shah said that he had written to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif twice about the matter. “The PM has assured me about removing Hotiana, whose services are no more required by us,” he said. “The Constitution empowers me to repatriate the chief secretary back to the establishment division in Islamabad but he is unwilling to leave the office.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2015.
