Thursday, July 10, 2008
The News
Karachi
The provincial government has approached the Corps Commander (5-corps Karachi) to return the bullet-proof Mercedes currently used by him for use by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah after the latter received a number of death threats from Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, sources told The News.
Meanwhile the latter’s Principal Secretary Sohil Akbar Shah has written a letter to the Karachi corps commander informing him of the situation.
The bullet-proof car was acquired from the Sindh government after the 12 October, 1999, coup when General Pervez Musharraf overthrew Mian Nawaz Sharif’s government. At the time, the car was used by Syed Ghous Ali Shah who was acting as the chief executive of Sindh. Former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif had appointed him in a custom-made post of ‘Adviser to the PM for Sindh,’ because Ghous Ali Shah was not a member of the National Assembly and could therefore not be nominated as the Sindh CM.
Following the coup, the car was used by the Karachi corps commander. The bullet-proof Mercedes was also used to transport former prime minister Shaukat Aziz when he paid an official visit to Sindh. Two former chief ministers, Ali Muhammad Maher and Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, did not use this car because it was officially under the use of the Karachi corps commander. Most recently, the car was also used to transport President Pervez Musharraf during his Karachi visit.