Of 38 sugar mills in Sindh, 18 belong to Asif Ali Zardari, Omni Group, claims PTI

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders on Sunday urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to form a special sugar inquiry committee for Sindh and impose a financial emergency in the province.

Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi, while addressing a press conference at the Insaf House, the party secretariat in Karachi, said that 18 out of 38 sugar mills in Sindh belonged to the former president and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) supremo Asif Ali Zardari and the Omni Group.

“After 2005, all sugar mills have been sold to the same purchaser in Sindh,” he claimed. He said that in the current tenure, the PM did not give any subsidy to the sugar mills, whereas former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had given subsidies to the tune of Rs20 billion and Rs4 billion respectively.

“The Thatta Sugar Mills was issued one billion rupees loan from the Sindh Bank for balancing, modernisation and replacement (BMR). How does a bank release loan to a borrower in this manner?” he questioned and demanded of the State Bank of Pakistan to initiate an audit of the Sindh Bank.

Naqvi said not only the Omni Group but other groups were also involved in irregularities. He added that farmers had not been made payments of their sugar cane so far. The PTI leader claimed that Sindh ministers had been telling lies. He asked the PM to form a special sugar inquiry committee for Sindh.

“Every institution in Sindh has been destroyed. Schools and colleges have been set up here but education is not available,” he said. Naqvi remarked that the Sindh health minister was missing and nowhere to be seen. “The people of Sindh want to get rid of these thieves and robbers,” he said.

The PTI’s parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh, said the loot and plunder of the Zardari-Omni nexus had gravely affected the common man in Sindh as taxpayers’ money was mercilessly embezzled.

MNA Jai Prakash said the condition of Thar had worsened after the passage of the 18th amendment. “The health and education system is with the provincial government, while the Sindh government is violating the rights of the people,” he said.

Chief Bait-ul-Mal Sindh Hunaid Lakhani asked the media to perform their responsibility to show the truth to the people and expose corruption. “Because of corruption and incompetence, the PPP has brought the province to the brink of disaster,” Lakhani said.