PTI criticises PPP for using ‘Sindh card to hide its corruption, bad governance’

Reacting to Thursday’s multi-party conference organised by the Pakistan People’s Party on the 18th amendment and other issues, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders said on Thursday the ruling party in the Sindh province had been using the Sindh ethnic card to hide bad governance and corruption of its provincial government.

Firdous Shamim Naqvi, opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly; Haleem Adil Sheikh, the PTI’s parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly, and MPA Ali Aziz GG told a press conference at Committee Room 2 of the Sindh Assembly that the Sindh government was solely responsible for the ongoing devastation of the province and the plight of its masses.

Naqvi said that instead of resolving the residents’ issues, the PPP leaders had been busy criticising the federal government. “No one will bother to visit the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre to catch a glimpse of the sufferings of poor masses, who are denied proper treatment,” he said.

He said that during the past two months, the chief minister had been raising a hue and cry about the coronavirus and now he was politicking on the National Economic Council. Criticising the chief minister for “spreading hatred”, Naqvi said the Green Line bus project was a project of the federal government, and through the Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Ltd. (SIDCL), many roads in Karachi had already been built and were benefiting the people.

“There are objections to some water pipelines affecting the Green Line but the water and sewerage board is not resolving the issues,” he said. “Objections to the construction on a road from Manghopir to Banaras have been filed.”

The opposition leader said that members were given no report about any quarter during the recent session of the Sindh Assembly. He stressed the need for announcing financial emergencies in Sindh.”They have now bought vehicles to control locusts. Water schemes of Karachi are not being completed by them.”

He said a company of “Bara Sahib” had been given contracts for 800 RO plants, but these plants were not in running condition. Sheikh, who is also the PTI’s central vice-president, said that if Sindh got any progress, it was the PPP that would show unhappiness.

He said the objection to the SIDCL was beyond understanding and asked why the Sindh rulers were angry when there was a matter of progress and prosperity of the province. He asked why they had no objection during the tenures of Nawaz Sharif and Qaim Ali Shah in the Center and Sindh respectively.

“In fact, only one company - Omni Group - had progressed and prospered in Sindh since,” he said. “On Wednesday, the chief minister again used the ugly trick to play Sindh ethnic Card,” he said, adding that the CM should be ashamed of his statement.

Sheikh said Benazir Bhutto was a chain of the four provinces, but the present rulers by misusing the 18th amendment had broken this chain. He said the chief minister slapped the lockdown in Sindh to destroy the economy of Pakistan.

Sheikh said the same company had worked in the period of Nawaz Sharif and it was acceptable, but now when this company wanted to install RO plants in Sindh, the rulers of Sindh became angry. He said they had given a health insurance cover of Rs2billion to the people of Thar, and they were given assistance with help of cards. He said the rulers of Sindh had failed to even repair the gutter lines of Larkana.

Sheikh charged that the rulers indulged in corruption through the Omni Group company. He said the provincial government was lying about ventilators. He added that it had already been handed over 76 ventilators by the federal government, but it was still lying that it had not received the ventilators. He asked where the ventilators had gone when they were not available for patients.

He said no one had stopped the Sindh chief minister from visiting the Prime Minister House. He said the CM was lying plainly when he claimed that he was at the airport when he was asked not to visit the PM House. He said the talks held in the meeting should be made public. He said there were six representatives of Sindh and three representatives of the federation at the meeting.

He asked the chief minister to stop playing the Sindh card. He said the report of the auditor general said that corruption of Rs957billion had been done in the province. He said this provincial government had made the entire province of Sindh like Thar.