Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) leaders asked Pakistan Peoples Party supremo Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday to take notice of the sufferings of the people of the Sindh province, especially Larkana, because of his party’s provincial government’s incompetence, bad governance and corruption.
Addressing a press conference, PTI parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh said that the PPP supremo should not give sermons when his own provincial government was not sincere with Sindh where people had been dying from hunger, water scarcity, dog-bites, HIV and other diseases.
“One only wishes Bilawal would have the courage to tell the people what his government in the Sindh province has done to save the people of the province from the coronavirus.” The PTI leader said that the federal government would not give the withholding tax to Sindh, and asked the PPP leaders to read articles 77, 141 and 142 of the constitution.
Under the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, the provinces are bound to collect the tax and give it to the federal government, and the provinces cannot refuse tax collection on behalf of the federation, said Sheikh, who is also the PTI’s central vice-president.
“In the spell of delivering sermons, they [PPP leaders] sometimes say things that may invoke Article 6, but I would not call them traitors,” he said. Sheikh said that the PPP chairman talked about a health allowance, but he was not seeing that nurses and paramedics were on the streets protesting for their genuine rights.
He said that the Sindh government had destroyed Karachi because of the PPP leaders’ biased policies. “In the past, they had supported criminal syndicates and now they have ignored the city in development projects.”
Sheikh said that the Sindh government was reluctant to make the Joint Interrogation Report of Uzair Baloch, head of proscribed People’s Aman Committee, public because it itself was involved in supporting gangs.
The PTI leader alleged that PPP MNA Nafeesa Shah was trying to hush up the matters regarding Pakistan International Airlines because she was a fake employee herself. He said the probe into the pilots’ issue was under way. “For the first time, reports are being made public.” He alleged that the licence of the PALPA vice president was also fake and said that most of the pilots were recruited on the basis of nepotism in the previous governments.
He said that even today people crossed canals in Sindh on dangerous planks and logs. He also said that the irrigation department was a glaring example of corruption and mismanagement of the PPP government.
“They [PPP leaders] are talking about minus-one, but Imran Khan is the only one because he is an honest leader and popular leader across the country. On the other hand, the PPP is now a party of mere four divisions of rural Sindh,” he said.
Hunaid Lakhani, Sindh Baitul Maal chief, said that his secretariat was doing many welfare activities. “We will fight for the rights of people. The workers of the PTI are serving the common people.”
He said it was high time strict action was taken against the K-Electric for long power outages during the coronavirus crisis. Lakhani also said that the greater Karachi water supply project, commonly known as K-IV, was a must to mitigate the water shortage in the city. He accused the PPP leaders of stealing and selling the water.
MPA Shahnawaz Jadoon, PTI leader Saifullah Abro, Jam Farooq Ahmed, Agha Arslan Ahmed and others also spoke to the presser.
‘Stop dreaming’
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Karachi president and MPA Khurram Sher Zaman has said the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz have faced a humiliating defeat over the successful passing of the federal budget 2020-21.
“The opposition parties must stop dreaming of minusing Imran Khan as he will soon minus the corrupt mafia and corruption from the country,” he said in a statement. PTI MPA criticised those who were calling Khan a “Hitler” and said that these people were the ones who were giving away Pakistan Steel Mills and Pakistan International Airlines.
“The nation is suffering due to the wrong policies of these old politicians. They must have shame while talking about the destruction of public institutions,” he said. Both the PPP and the PML-N in their government recruited their political workers, killing merit and hiring more people than it was actually required.
He said the opposition claimed that PM Imran Khan had lost against the mafia over petrol price hikes. “They must remember they are the mafias. The cure has commenced. We will not let the struggle of Imran Khan go in vain”.