Administrator Karachi not associated with MQM, says Nasir Hussain Shah

Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said that the newly-appointed Administrator Karachi is not associated with Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

Nasir Hussain Shah made the statement while answering a question from a journalist. The journalist questioned that the Sindh government announced to give a ‘gift’ to its ally MQM-P and later they appointed Administrator Karachi.

Shah clarified that MQM-P had given the name of a former MPA Waseem Ahmed, however, the Sindh government did not appoint him as per MQM-P’s nomination. He said that a government officer [Dr Saifur Rehman] with a good reputation was appointed as Administrator Karachi.

He further said that they could not make a political appointment for the position, hence, a good government officer was chosen for Administrator Karachi’s slot.

ایم کیوایم نے ایڈمنسٹریٹر کے لیے عبدالوسیم کا نام دیا ان کے کہنے پر ایڈمنسٹریٹر نہیں لگایا اپنی مرضی سے سرکاری آفیسر لگایا وزیر بلدیات
بھائی اگر متحدہ کی مرضی سے نہیں لگانا تو مت لگاؤ مگر اتنی بے عزتی کرنے کی کیا ضرورت ہے pic.twitter.com/XlEr850p0F

— Syed Faisal Hussain (@sfaisal_hussain) December 9, 2022

Saif is an officer of PAS (BS-20) and is currently at the disposal of Local Government and Housing Town Planning Development.

It is pertinent to mention here that Dr Saifur Rehman had been appointed as the new Administrator Karachi after much deliberation by the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and MQM Pakistan leaders in several rounds of talks.

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Earlier, PPP had taken months to finalise the appointment of MQM-P’s Sindh governor despite the names being forwarded under a political agreement. After much deliberation, the PPP rejected the appointment of Nasreen Jalil and later appointed Kamran Tessori as the Sindh governor.

The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and its ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) had reached a political settlement ahead of the local government (LG) polls.

The political settlement between PPP and MQM-P also included the withdrawal of MQM-P’s candidate in the upcoming Senate elections on December 8 and the appointment of the MQM-P leader as the Karachi Administrator ahead of LG polls.

The decisions were taken in two separate meetings held at Sindh Chief Minister’s House and MQM-P Bahadurabad headquarters.

The talks were held over the directives of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari who had directed the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to address all issues to the MQM-P.