MQM stages walkout as CM defends LEAs performance

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement Tuesday staged walkout from the Sindh Assembly session after Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah defended performance of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in Karachi operation against the criminal elements.

Addressing the provincial assembly session, Shah said a decision to launch Karachi operation was taken in all parties conference headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Lauding the efforts of (LEAs) in ongoing targeted operation in Karachi, the chief minister claimed that targeted killings in the metropolitan city have been reduced by 45 percent in the last two years.

Shah said that he presented the facts before the prime minister, who he said, hailed him and his administration for ‘performing well’.

“Chief of Army Staff also appreciated me and my administration in the apex committee,” he added.

Responding to MQM criticism, the chief minister said: “Who was in the government when 40 people were killed in Karachi on May 11?”

Shah said that the opposition party workers “encircled” the chief minister house to protest killings of their party workers.

He said that Karachi is not a city of any single political party and each party should put its share for security of the country’s largest city.

Earlier, MQM MPA Syed Sardar Ahmed in his speech demanded of the Sindh government to take notice of Additional IG statement, which he described as a ‘political statement’.

“No government officer has a right to issue political statements,” he said.