Murad Ali Shah takes oath, becomes Sindh CM for third time in a row

Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori administered the oath to the Shah at a ceremony held at the Governor's House attended by top officials and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders including party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. 

Outgoing Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar was also present on the ocassion.

The swearing ceremony of the chief minister was conducted by Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam. At the outset of the ceremony, the chief secretary announced that MPA Shah had been elected chief minister of Sindh by the provincial assembly on February 26.

Those who attended the oath-taking ceremony were Faryal Talpur, former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, former Speaker Agha Siraj Durani, Speaker Sindh Assembly Awais Qadir Shah, Deputy Speaker Anthony Naveed, former ministers and PPP MPAs Nasir Shah, Sharjeel Memon, Imtiaz Shaikh, Saeed Ghani, Sardar Shah, Jam Khan Shoro.

CM Shah made history after he was re-elected as the provincial chief executive for the third consecutive time with an overwhelming majority.

The assembly session was chaired by Speaker Awais Qadir Shah. The election for the provincial chief executive was held through the division of the house.

Murad secured 112 votes, while the candidate of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Ali Khursheedi secured 36 votes.

The speaker, while greeting Shah, termed his election a historical moment. Lawmakers belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, who have joined the Sunni Ittehad Council, and the lone MPA belonging to Jamaat-e-Islami, did not take part in the election process.

Speaking on the floor of the Sindh Assembly on Monday, Shah announced accelerating the pace of development work in the province. He said establishing the rule of law was priority number one of his new government.

He cautioned the officials of provincial bureaucracy to observe punctuality in attending to their duties and reaching their offices at 9 am daily. He said the salaries of the provincial government employees would be doubled in the next five years.

The CM announced that the law-enforcement agencies would conduct an operation against dacoits in the riverine belt of the province, commonly known as katcha area, while the menace of street crimes would also be eliminated in Karachi.

He mentioned that late prime minister Benazir Bhutto had encouraged him to join politics. He expressed gratitude to the PPP leadership for granting him the opportunity to serve the people of the province for the third time. He recalled that after he had been threatened with imprisonment in the past regime, Bilawal had declared that Murad Ali Shah would remain the Sindh CM even after he was sent behind bars.

Shah assured the house that he would not differentiate between the treasury and opposition benches during his rule. He said that he would always remain open to criticism by the opposition lawmakers for improvement in his regime.