SEHWAN: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday condemned the armed attack, a day earlier, on Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal in Narowal and demanded a thorough investigation into the incident.

Speaking to the media after performing the formal closure of the 766th Urs celebrations of great Sufi Saint Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar here on Monday, the chief minister said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was the only political party that always raised its voice against terrorism and extremism.

It rendered great sacrifices in its struggle to root out terrorism, he said.

Mr Shah pointed out that his government had taken strict measures to prevent any untoward incident during the three-day Urs celebrations. Complete peace prevailed at the shrine and Sehwan Sharif and all possible facilities were extende d to hundreds of thousands of devotees who came to participate in the Urs from across the country, he observed.

In reply to a question, Mr Shah said that PPP enjoyed an overwhelming majority in Sindh and no other party was in a position to match its vote bank. He also observed that the masses wanted general election to be held on time.

Responding to a questioner, he said all-out efforts were being made to cope with the acute shortage of water being faced by the people of Sehwan town and resolvethe issue on a permanent basis. He said the government was actively working on the restoration of Manchhar Lake so that the issue of water shortage was addressed and the local fishermen community couldregain theirlivelihood.

Replying to another question, the CM said that his government would present the provincial budget 2018-2019 on May 10.

There was no constitutional hurdle in presenting the budget but the government would fulfil its moral responsibility of granting approvaltothe utilisation ofthreemonth allocations.

The remaining budgetary allocations would be utilised with the approval of the provincial assembly after formation of the new government, he explained.

Regarding increasing road accidents along the Indus Highway, the chief minister said an inordinate delay by the federal government agencies in completing the 130km dual carriageway was a major reason behind these accidents. `When the Sindh government is able to complete the 62km NawabshahSanghar road within four months, there should be no reason why the federal government cannot get the 130km dual carriageway completed within the stipulated time, he argued.

CM Murad All Shah, in reply to a question, said there was no restriction on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) regarding holding of their public meetings. Actually, MQM-P factions were stunned by PPP`s power show in Liaquatabad which was addressed by chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, he said.

Mr Shah said Karachiites were no more fearful and would exercise their right to franchise in the next general election as per their free will.Earlier, CM Shah along with Manzoor Hussain Wassan and Fayyaz Ali Butt, Syed Ghulam Shah Jilani, Munawwar All Mahesar, Hyderabad Commissioner SaeedAhmedMangnejo,Jamshoro Deputy Commissioner retired Captain Fariduddin Mustafa, Sikandar Rahpoto, Raees Amanullah Shahani, senior police officials and party activists laid wreaths on the grave of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and offered fateha to announce a formal end to the Urs.

Speaking at a ceremony, Mr Shah said Sindh is the land of Sufis where great saints like Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Sachal Sarmast and many others set their foot and preached love,peace, brotherhood and interfaith harmony.

He noted that hundreds of thousands of people had been visiting the Qalandar shrine every year to attend the Urs and their number was constantly rising.

He regretted that devotees and other visitors, as well as residents of Sehwan, were currently faced with unbearable power outages amid harsh weather conditions.

He held the federal government responsible for their miseries and sufferings relating to the heatwave and the outages.

Meanwhile, eight more people died in different incidents in Sehwan on the concluding day of the Urs on Monday.Syed Abdullah Shah Institute of Medical Sciences director Dr Moeen Siddiqui told reporters that two devotees, Abdul Ghaffar (from Karachi) and Mohammad Sharif (Gujranwala) died of heart attack.

Local Edhi centre in-charge Ghulam Sarwar Shaikh said that a young girl, Sapna, 3, and two unknown persons aged 40-50 died apparently due to heatstroke.

Another two persons, Zaheer Ali Mangrio and Zahid Baloch, died after the car they were travelling in overturned at a section of the Indus Highway and Aijaz Panhwar also died in a similar accident at Khuda Abad on his way back home from the shrine.