CM says NAB pressure affecting bureaucracy performance.

KARACHI -- Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah giving an oblique reference of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said that it has created a wave of fear and insecurity among the officers, therefore they have stopped working and this has become a serious issue.

This he said on Tuesday while addressing graduation ceremony of 26th Mid-Career Management Course (MCMC) at National Institute of Management (NIM) Karachi.

He said that officers were infested with fear and insecurity, therefore they have stopped working and prefer to remain without posting or on the side post and those who were at important positions did not perform. 'This is a serious situation that has caused serious dent to service delivery,' he lamented and urged the officers to come out of fear [of NAB] and start serving people without any stress and pressure.

Shah said that the bureaucracy of this country was highly qualified, efficient and properly trained but their salary structure and perks were considerably lower compared to people of other sectors. 'Bureaucracy is the backbone of this country and they have to play their due role for the development of this country and its people,' he said and appreciated National Institute of Management (NIM) for offering excellent training programmes for capacity building of bureaucracy of the country and urged its management to design such courses which inculcate confidence among 'fear-infested' officers. 'I think such kind of courses are very much requited these days,' he said.

He said that he had a great objection on the slogan 'say no to corruption' 'it implies as if we all as a society and as a nation are corrupt,' he said and added 'we have governance issues and with the establishment of good governance corruption would automatically dwindle down,' he said.

Talking about 18thconstitutional amendment, Murad Ali Shah said that it was a great achievement of PPP government [in center in those days] which prepared draft with collective wisdom of all the parliamentary forces and got it approved from the parliament. 'That was the time of reforms- again the formula of 7thNFC Award was changed for the first time in the history and it paid the province abundantly.

'It was 18thamendment under which Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) was established for collection of Sales Tax on Services. The federal government used to give Rs6 to 7 billion...