Karachi: The Sindh government will establish its own province-wide FM radio station to air the most authentic information about any emergency and vehicular traffic situation without any delay.

The decision to this effect was reached at a meeting chaired by Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon and attended by senior officials of the provincial Information Department.

The proposed FM radio channel will particularly be used to relay updates about any terrorist incidents in Sindh so that the public shouldn’t be unnecessarily panic due to unconfirmed reports and rumours doing rounds on social media.

The decision to establish an FM radio station for the swift relaying of such information was made in the backdrop of the terrorist attack on the Karachi Police Office (KPO) last month.

Speaking at a press conference after the attack, the concerned provincial ministers said that in future such emergencies, motorists on the main roads of Karachi would be quickly informed about the threatening situation in their surroundings. The motorists would also be motivated to keep a lane of the road empty for trouble-free movement of emergency vehicles including ambulances and police vans.

The provincial ministers said that during the security operation against the terrorists who attacked the KPO, some private TV news channels aired such sensitive information about the attack that could be misused by the handlers of the terrorists to their sheer advantage in their fight against law-enforcement agencies.

Karachi’s Commissioner, Mohammad Iqbal Memon, also chaired a meeting and decided that a proper command and control centre would be established for regulating emergency response mechanisms in disastrous situations including sabotage activities in the city. The ambulances of private charities and Rescue 1122 service will respond to different emergencies in a coordinated manner under the proposed command and control set-up.

Meanwhile, the Sindh Information Minister while chairing the meeting said that in addition to relaying updates about emergencies and disasters, the proposed radio station would serve as an effective tool to let the people know about different development projects completed by the provincial government to serve the masses in the best possible manner.

He said the people should know about the free treatment services of the state-of-the-art public healthcare facilities in the province, as these hospitals had not just been serving the people of Sindh but also treating patients from all over Pakistan and from the neighbouring countries.