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KARACHI: Syed Murad Ali Shah was re-elected as chief minister of Sindh province here on Thursday during the assembly session in which lawmakers of the far-right religious party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), abstained from voting.
Shah, who was chief minister in the previous government of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), polled 97 votes, while the opposition’s joint candidate, Shehryar Mehar, bagged 61 votes.
The PPP’s jailed member of the provincial assembly, Sharjeel Inam Memon, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Muhammad Hanif, were produced from prison to attend the session to cast their votes.
The nominated governor of Sindh, Imran Ismail, who was elected as a member of the provincial assembly on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket from Karachi, did not attend the session.
Agha Siraj Durrani, the newly elected speaker of the Sindh Assembly, announced Shah’s victory to the slot.
Leaders of different political parties extended congratulations to the newly elected chief minister on the floor of the house. However, they stressed that Shah should use all resources to serve the province. The MQM lawmaker Muhammad Hussain accused Shah of discrimination and not delegating powers to the lower tier of the government.
In his victory speech, the newly elected CM extended his gratitude to the party and masses, who he said have put their trust in him.
“The rights of people were not given in 1971 so we lost half of the country,” Shah said, vowing that his provincial government will serve the people of the province and get their rights from the center.
The losing candidate, Shehryar Mehar, in his speech urged the newly elected CM to take along the opposition and not victimize the opposition party.
Syed Murad Ali Shah belongs to the political family of Jamshoro Sindh. His father Syed Abdullah Shah was chief minister of Sindh province from Oct. 21, 1993 to Nov. 6, 1996, during the PPP’s government.
Shah, however, unlike many from political families, concentrated on his studies and professional life before entering politics in 2002. He completed his matriculation from Saint Patrick’s High School and intermediate from DJ Sindh Government Science College. He did his BE in civil technology from the NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi in 1986. He moved to the US for higher studies and gained an M.Sc in civil/structural engineering from Stanford University of California in 1987. He did his M.Sc in economic systems from the same university in 1993 before returning to Pakistan.
Shah joined the Water and Power Development Authority as a junior engineer in 1998 and then moved to the Post Qasim Authority as an executive engineer in 1990.
He was the provincial minister for irrigation and finance in the government of Syed Qaim Ali Shah before he was elevated to the chief minister’s office. Shah, who was elected from PS-80 Jamshoro in the July 25 general elections, was previously elected as chief minister of Sindh on July 29, 2016 when the veteran politician Syed Qaim Ali Shah resigned.