KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said Sunday that the peace restored in Karachi had given a boost to sports, arts and crafts, literary and other healthy activities.
I am sure this would further encourage people to play their due role in the peace and prosperity in Karachi,” he said while addressing as a chief guest the First Commissioner Karachi Marathon, organized at Moin Khan Academy on Sunday.
He said that Karachi was bogged down in worst law and order for around a decade and every healthy activity had shied away. “We planned to restore peace in the city with our sincere efforts and its credit goes to police, rangers and Pakistan Army for restoring it, but of top of them, the credit goes to Karachiites who rendered a lot of sacrifices and supported the operation,” he said.
The chief minister said then PSL final was held in the city last year and those activities went on multiplying. “This year, five PSL matches will be played in the city which shows the confidence of the international communities in this Karachi,” he said. Shah said in a lighter mood that he was not invited to participate in Marathon because the organizers were afraid of his victory. “I told them to form a category of over 50 years of parliamentarians, but every participant’s name must start with the letter of `M’, then I would participate but they did not,” he said in joyous mood.
He assured he would participate in the next Marathon and congratulated Commissioner Karachi and his team for organizing such a beautiful healthy event after a gap of 30 years. “This is start of marathon event and next year, this event would be organized with more participation and more vigor,” he said.
Shah also thanked the sponsors of the event and urged them to keep supporting such healthy activities in the city. “This city has given us a lot and now we all together have to pay back to this city so that it again turn to be one of the most prosperous, beautiful, peaceful and seat of learning,” he said.
Earlier, the chief minister distributed prizes among the winners of different categories of the marathon. Commissioner Karachi presented a memento to Sindh chief minister.
Talking to media, the chief minister said that not only sports and healthy activities had improved in the city, but trade and business activities were also flourishing.
Replying to a question, he said that the PSL would be a great event and he himself had chaired a joint meeting of PSL organizers, law enforcement agencies and divisional administration. He hoped again it would be a great event and a memorable event in the city. He said that strict security measures would be taken for PSL matches, which might cause some problems to the people of this city, but it would be his utmost effort to cause minimum inconvenience to the people.
This is our event and every resident of Karachi will be the host of the PSL players, participants and organizers; therefore, inconvenience will not make any difference,” he said.