Pakistan: Murtaza Wahab assumes charge as new administrator of Karachi
Wahab will continue to hold positions of law adviser and government spokesman
Karachi: Barrister Murtaza Wahab has assumed charge as the new Administrator of Karachi following his appointment by the Sindh government.
He has replaced senior bureaucrat Laeeq Ahmed as the city’s administrator. Prior to his appointment, Murtaza was the Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister on Law, Environment, and Coastal Development and also the spokesman for the Sindh government.
He will continue with his previous assignments as the Law Adviser to the chief minister and also as the provincial government’s spokesman, while the portfolio of Environment and Coastal Development has been withdrawn from him.
His appointment came as a part of major changes in the Sindh cabinet as the chief minister appointed four new provincial ministers, three advisers, and 13 special assistants. Three Sindh ministers, an adviser, and a special assistant were removed from their positions.
Murtaza Wahab belongs to the Pakistan Peoples’ Party that rules Sindh. A native of Karachi, he is the son of late PPP leader Fauzia Wahab. A lawyer by profession, he earlier also served as a Senator. He also served as an adviser to Sindh CM in the previous provincial government of the Peoples’ Party.
The Opposition political parties in the province believe that by appointing Wahab, the Sindh government has breached an understanding it earlier reached with the concerned federal authorities and other relevant stakeholders that Karachi’s Administrator would always be a non-political person.
Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Shaikh, while opposing the latest appointment said that an honest bureaucrat enjoying good reputation should be appointed as the new Administrator of Karachi.
Talking to media after assuming charge, Wahab said the new responsibilities assigned to him was an honour for him and his family.
He hoped to bring a positive change in Karachi after getting cooperation from all the citizens.
Wahab said that he was ready to sit with any agency and institution, including the federal government, to resolve the problems of Karachi.
