Karachi: The Sindh government on Wednesday appointed Taj Haider as the “media coordinator” for the provincial government, according to the chief minister’s media consultant, Waqar Mehdi.

He said Haider would work as the spokesperson for the Sindh government.

After assuming the charge, Taj Haider visited the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation to enquire the health of an ailing journalist.

Haider’s appointment as media coordinator came two days after the provincial government had fired 12 of its advisers, including the adviser on information to the chief minister, Sharmila Farooqi, apparently to implement the 18th Amendment, which restricted the powers of the chief ministers for appointing too many advisers.

Talking to The News, Taj Haider said the major reason of the PPP government getting a “negative media” was that facts and figures were not being provided to the media at the right time.

Haider said the media was not projecting the many good things the government was doing.

The media coordinator said he would try to strengthen the “strong link” his party had developed with the journalists.

Haider, who has been with the PPP since its founding in 1967, had been a close associate of late Benazir Bhutto, and he, according to a friend of his, was one of the few PPP leaders from the urban areas who had had a good rapport with the party leaders from some other districts of the province.

The PPP leader has learnt the poetry of the great poet, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, by heart.

Taj Haider was born in Rajisthan in 1942. His family migrated to Pakistan in 1948.

Haider did his matriculation from Karachi and intermediate from Mumtaz College in Khairpur. He did his MSc in mathematics from the University of Karachi.
Source: The News
Date:2/3/2011