Overloaded boats run a risk of sinking, Qureshi warns PPP

PTI leader says military courts are the need of the hour; criticises federal govt for ‘changing the draft of military courts without consulting anyone’ 

Shah Mehmood Qureshi, vice chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, who switched his loyalty from the Pakistan Peoples Party to the PTI four years back, has said the political power of the PPP in Sindh should be accepted by all. 

Addressing a press conference at the Insaf House on Saturday after his six-day visit to Thar, he said that it was the right of every political party to indulge in politicking. He said the PPP knew how to attract different people, but he cautioned “an overloaded boat has to sink finally”.

His admission of the PPP’s being popular in Sindh was seen by political observers as a big change in his attitude in the wake of leaders from different political parties’ joining the ruling party of the province.

They thought Qureshi too might return to his original party.

The PTI leader said the PPP had announced an all parties’ conference on the issue of military courts. He said his party leaders would consult before deciding whether to attend it or not.

He was of the view that Operation Zarb-e-Azab was successful and personnel of law enforcement agencies rendered a lot of sacrifices in it, but the government could not continue it.

Qureshi said everyone knew why the military courts were needed. He said that after the 21st amendment, the government got ample time of two years and it could have done a lot during this time, but the people knew what the government did. He asked why the government failed to take decisive steps during those two years when all political parties were on the same page.

He said that after the Peshawar tragedy, “we ended our sit-in in the greater interest of the nation and country”. He said that had the government given special powers to the Rangers in Punjab, many sad incidents could have been avoided.

Qureshi said that in the airplane mishap of Havelian, many people, including Junaid Jamshed, lost their lives but the probe results of that sad incident were yet to be made public. He said the rulers forgot about such issues when the media stopped focusing on them. 

He said Sehwan was the constituency of the chief minister of Sindh, but for three days no compensation was announced for the martyrs. He said many people told him that some injured people were so poor that they could not even buy a water bottle. No one had mercy on those poor injured, he added.

He said that after a long debate, consensus was made on the 21st amendment. He said the sitting government without consulting anyone changed the draft about the military courts and no one was taken into confidence. He emphasised that before taking such decisions, the interests of the common man should be kept in mind.

“The Thar Desert of Sindh lacks basic facilities of life and it needs a special development package,” said Qureshi.

He said he had visited every village of Thar, met common people and gathered information from them about their problems. He thanked the Hur Jamaat, Sarwari Jamaat, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Asad Junejo and other leaders who had instructed their disciples and workers to accord him a warm welcome. 

He said that with the family of Pir Pagara they had old relations spanning to generations. He said that politically Pir Pagara had his own platform and his own political weight and reputation. 

He also thanked the Hindu community who had invited him to their temple on the occasion of their festival of Shiv Retteri. He said that in Umerkot and Thar, Hindus and Muslims lived with peace and love. He said the Hindus of Pakistan were patriotic people and they were even better Pakistanis than he was. 

He said that in the month of March, he would visit Sindh again. He said he would brief PTI Chairman Imran Khan about the results of the recent visit.

PTI Sindh President Dr Arif Alvi and Senior Vice President Haleem Adil Sheikh were also present at the press conference.