By News Desk
KARACHI: The feud between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) continued on Sunday, with Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry calling on the Supreme Court to implement Article 140-A of the Constitution in the PPP-led Sindh province to address what he described as the “constitutional crisis” in the province.
It began when Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, at a press conference at Governor House Karachi, said the federal government was in favour of the implementation of Article 140-A of Constitution — which requires provinces to establish a local government (LG) system and devolve political, administrative and financial powers to the LG’s elected representatives — “so the basic issues of the people could be resolved at their doorsteps”.
He stopped short of calling for governor rule in Sindh, and explained that the PTI government considers the measure “non-democratic and extra-constitutional”.
Chaudhry deplored the Sindh government for not convening a meeting of the Provincial Finance Commission, nor putting financial resources at the disposal of LG bodies or devolving administrative powers to them.
“In a total contravention of the Constitution all the decisions are being made at Bilawal House, undermining the authority of provincial assembly and cabinet. This is a constitutional crisis in itself,” he claimed, urging the Supreme Court to ensure the implementation of the Constitution — particularly Article 140-A in Sindh — as it “is the only statutory procedure for granting basic rights to both urban and rural areas of the province”.
The minister asked where the Sindh government spent over Rs1,800 billion which it received under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award in the previous years “as nothing on the ground is visible”. “An amount of over Rs700 billion was earmarked for the province in next year’s federal budget,” he added.
He lamented that despite having a major chunk of national resources, the people of Sindh were “suffering” only because of the policies of the PPP government, which “has completely failed to resolve their problems”.
The health system in the province had “deteriorated to the extent” that Supreme Court judges had to observe that hospitals devolved to the province should be handed back over to the federal government for improving their service delivery, the minister remarked. Similarly, he said, the deplorable condition of development projects, broken roads, and non-availability of potable water and other basic facilities “speaks volumes about the provincial government’s performance”. “The PPP government has failed to maintain law and order even in the provincial capital,” he added.
Sindh’s information minister promptly responded in a series of tweets. He said: “Fawad Chaudhry, who failed in his conspiracies against Punjab Chief Minister Buzdar, has now started conspiracies against Sindh Chief Minister. Earlier, he was hired by Jahangir Tareen but now he has been hired by Muttahida. This is the same Fawad Chaudhry who wrote a 10 page letter against Buzdar saying that he is incompetent.”
He also posted a series of videos on the progress in the province and said: “If you want to know the truth of the allegations made against the Sindh government by the federal government and its hired liars, look at their performance in KPK for the last eight years. There is no better way to test their lies than this. Just show a single hospital in KP that matches NICVD/GIMS/SIUT.
“It is an open challenge to the federal government and its liars to show progress at this level in KP.
These are small and big cities of Sindh. If you look at them with an honest eye then you will know how much work is being done in Sindh, whether it is hospitals, road networks, bridges or forests.”
Chaudhry, in his presser also hit out against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, he said its leadership had “realised that it has no political future”, therefore they had resorted to “antagonistic politics”.
They were opposing each and every step of the government “without any sound reasoning”. They had rejected the right of vote to overseas Pakistanis, use of electronic voting machines and other people friendly measures, he said.
He said the PML-N leaders had “undermined the vital role of overseas Pakistanis in the country’s development and financial stability”. “The expatriates are sending their hard-earned money to their homeland while the PML-N leadership always laundered the money made through corruption and embezzlement broad,” he alleged.
To a question, Chaudhry said the federal government was fully committed to carry forward the Green Line Project, but claimed the provincial departments in Sindh were not cooperating in that regard. Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and federal minister Asad Umar were fully focused to resolve the transport issues of the city, but the Sindh government’s “reluctance is a hurdle”.
To another query, he said the Sindh government had demanded more funds. The funds allocated by the Centre in the past for specific purposes were not utilised, rather, the same were transferred to foreign bank accounts, he alleged. “We want to spend the funds for the betterment of the public,” he said. Responding to a question on the performance of state-owned entities, the minister said the PPP’s last regime had “destroyed” public institutions by large scale induction of employees and mismanagement, but the PTI government was now taking “remedial measures to save them”.
As regards the distribution of irrigation water, Chaudhry said the Indus River System Authority was releasing water to Sindh as per its share. Punjab was not taking water from Sindh’s share, rather it was the PPP leaders who were “usurping and stealing the water of farmers and growers”, he claimed. He said the federation had suggested Sindh to appoint impartial observers at entry points, but Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had not accepted the proposal as it would “expose their water theft”.
The minister also said the Sindh government was not ready to provide health cards to the people of the province. The health card is a comprehensive medical facility for the deserving population as it provides coverage of one million rupees for treatment of various diseases to each family, he said.