Treasury, Opp members trade barbs in NA

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Communications Murad Saeed on floor of the National Assembly Tuesday accused Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership of corruption, money-laundering and creating fake accounts at the cost of uplift of the Sindh province and ignoring basic problems of Karachi.

Murad Saeed, taking the floor in the lower house of the Parliament, unleashed strong criticism of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah over their controversial statements against the federation.

“The money, which was to be spent on uplift of Sindh, provision of clean drinking water, health projects and solving basic problems was laundered and deposited in fake accounts,” the minister said while addressing the PPP chairman and Sindh CM while referring to appearance of Sindh chief executive before the accountability court in fake accounts.

He said it was a responsibility of the Sindh government to provide clean drinking to people, address health problems, dispose of waste of Karachi city and solve other problems of the province, but nothing was done by the PPP government. “As per authentic statistics, the poverty rate and mortality rate were highest in the Sindh province,” he said adding that there was no hospital or even an ambulance was not available at the time of Sehwan bomb blast.

Murad Saeed said that while Kashmiris were raising slogans in support of Pakistan, the PPP leaders were talking of creating Sindhu Desh and Pakhtunistan and harming the federation and Pakistan. “You will stand exposed and divided and your politics will end but Pakistan will remain forever,” he added.

The minister said all political parties collectively raised voice for the oppressed Kashmiris and exposed the evil face of Modi government. He said the statements of PPP chairman and the Sindh CM had hurt the sentiments of the nation.

Responding to minister’s speech, senior PPP parliamentarian Abdul Qadir Patel said that the allegations levelled by Murad Saeed had nothing to do with reality. He said he fully endorsed the statement of the PPP chairman.

Patel, while pointing towards the treasury benches, said the mission of aliens (khalai makhlooq) has failed here.

"We are celebrating the failure of India's space mission, which, we pray, should continue to fail, but the mission of khalai makhlooq has failed here," he added.

He said his party had always been a symbol of federalism and federation and it had always challenged the anti-federation elements. “The PPP has given sacrifices of generations to

save the federation and Pakistan; otherwise, the nationalist groups in the province might have succeeded in their designs,” he claimed.

He said the incumbent federal government should stop dreaming of taking control of Karachi which is against strengthening of federation. “We will die but will not allow division of the Sindh province,” he said.

He reminded the PTI parliamentarians that it was Imran Khan who used to say that the MQM was not a political party, and it should not be included in any all parties conference (APC) or be made part of any government.

“Tell me who is implementing narrative of Imran Khan at present,” he said, adding that Bilawal Bhutto rightly called the incumbent law minister Sharifuddin Pirzada of modern

era for talking about imposition of Article 149 in Karachi.

He said Kashmir could not be freed by holding concerts and arranging visits of actors to Muzaffarabad. The government would have to take the nation into confidence, arrange an APC and launch hectic diplomacy, he suggested.

As Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi started speaking on a point of order, the PPP parliamentarians pointed out lack of quorum in the house.

Speaker Asad Qaisar adjourned the proceedings till Thursday due to lack of quorum. Former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf protested selection of a piece of land measuring 300 kanals as a landfill for disposing of the Rawalpindi district solid waste. He said that decision of the Punjab government had created unrest among the residents of his constituency.

However, the speaker told him that it was a provincial matter and should be taken at the appropriate forum.