PTI's Fawad Chaudhry accuses PDM of doing anti-Punjab politics

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain lashed out at the 11-party Opposition alliance, accusing its platform to be a hotbed of anti-Punjab parties.

In a tweet on Monday, Fawad said half of the country's population consists of Punjabis. He claimed the "so-called nationalists have swindled billions of rupees and abuse Punjab to deceive their supporters".

"On average, Rs400 billion are transferred to Balochistan every year. Balochistan's population is just 10 million, where did the money go?"

This is not the first time the federal minister has called out the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for allegedly propelling an anti-Punjab narrative.

When PkMAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai accused Lahore to side with the British, Sikh and Hindu leadership in the pre-partition era during the jalsa hosted by the PML-N in the provincial capital, Fawad had said the PkMAP leader is "not only anti-Pakistan himself but his father, Samad Khan Achakzai, also worked for the Congress during the pre-partition era".

"He came to Lahore only to speak against Punjab," the federal minister had said.

Fawad's Monday statement follows the PPP-hosted gathering in Larkana to mark the 13th death anniversary of former premier Benazir Bhutto.

The jalsa saw speeches by PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz while PPP co-chair and Benazir's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, addressed the gathering virtually.

JUI-F's Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, PkMAP's Mahmood Khan Achakzai and JUP leader Awais Noorani also addressed the crowd.

The PDM once again asked Prime Minister Imran Khan "to step down" or face the movement's long march to Islamabad with the aim to "dethrone him". Bilawal said that if by January 31, the premier does not resign, the jiyalas (party loyalists) will march down to the capital and "drag him off his seat".