Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah Tuesday just after receiving the report of the blast in a van at Karachi University which claimed four lives, including three Chinese faculty members, visited Chinese Consulate to express sorrow and grief with the Chinese Consul General Li Bijian.
The Chief Minister shared details of incident with the Consul General and said the incident would be investigated properly. Murad Ali Shah assured the consul general that the culprits would be brought to book. He said the partnership of China in the overall development of Pakistan, particularly of Sindh was important and such incidents could not affect the strong relationship between the two nations. The CM expressed his condolences with the families of Chinese nationals who lost their lives in the blast.
Murad Ali Shah told the consul general that his government would make all the arrangements to send the dead bodies to China for which he needed consulates guidance. Shah conveyed the condolence messages of PPPP President Asif Zardari and Chairman Bilawal Bhutto to Chinese Consul General. He said that they have condemned the incident in strong words.
The CM told Chinese Consul General that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif talked to him on telephone and got details of the incident. He has also condemned the incident and expressed his solidarity with the aggrieved families of Chinese nationals killed in the incident.
Chinese Consul General Li Bijian thanked the chief minister for his visit and said he was in contact with the families of three Chinese nationals killed in the blast. “Whatever decision is taken in respect of shifting the dead bodies back to China would be informed to the Sindh government,” Li Bijian said.
Earlier, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh Mushtaq Maher told the chief minister that at about 14:30 hrs a blast took place in a van near Commerce Department of Karachi University. “Initial report indicates four casualties which include Chinese nationals.”
The chief minister has directed IG Police to conduct a security audit of Chinese nationals living in Sindh under CPEC and non-CPEC related projects and report him.Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah shaping up development portfolio for next financial year, 2022-23 has decided to launch Rescue Helpline ‘1122’ with a fleet of fire tenders and ambulances to meet any untoward incidents.“I want local government department to prepare a scheme of around 200 fire tenders and ambulances and get it approved at the earliest so that it could be launched in the next financial year,” directs the CM.
This he said while presiding over an important meeting to finalize proposals for next ADP-2022-23 here at CM House. The meeting was attended by Minister Works Zia Abbas Shah, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, Principal Secretary to CM Fayaz Jatoi, Secretary Finance Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary Works Imran atta Soomro, Secretary Local Govt Najam Shah, Special Secretary to CM Rahim Shaikh, member P&D Fatah Tunio.
Mr Shah said that in future to avoid Mehar-like fire incidents; we would have to prepare a fleet of fire tenders so that timely action could be taken. “These fire tenders and ambulances would put on the disposal of Rescue 1122 so that they could rush to the spot in case of any untoward incident,” he said and added the parking place of the fire tenders and ambulances would be decided in consultation with district administration.
Minister Local govt dept briefing the chief minister said that his department has launched 555 schemes of Rs25, 500 million against which Rs16,972 million has been released and the utilization has been recorded at Rs11843.48 million. The chief minister directed the local government department to focus on completion of on-going schemes in the next financial year. “We would focus on completion of mega projects launched in Karachi next year,” the CM said.
