‘PDM rally a flop show’

Karachi : Continuing their criticism of the Sindh government, particularly Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, for its alleged double standards, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders said on Saturday the Pakistan Peoples Party’s provincial government had been using government machinery and funds to host a rally of the opposition parties’ alliance in the city today (Sunday) amidst the growing number of Covid-19 patients.

Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi, addressing a press conference at the Insaf House, said Nasir Hussain Shah and Murtaza Wahab, who used to be the champions of imposing lockdowns, were also silent on the provincial government’s anti-people acts.

Commenting on Friday’s Gujranwala gathering of the Pakistan Democratic Movement, the opposition parties’ alliance, Naqvi said that it called it a “flop show”.

“Eleven opposition parties could gather less than 15,000 people only after spending millions in Gujranwala division, whose population is in crores. Also, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Maryam Nawaz brought people from Lala Musa and Lahore,” he said.

Criticising the opposition parties, particularly the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the PTI leader said that the products of General Jillani and Zia-ul-Haq were using inappropriate and vulgar language against the security forces and the judiciary in the public meeting. He also criticised Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the PDM’s head, and said his “duplicitous politics” was exposed in front of the people.

PTI Parliamentary Leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh said the PPP, the PML-N and the JUI-F, the PDM’s key three component parties, had been using Sindhi, Punjabi and religion cards in public rallies. “But Imran Khan has only a Pakistan card and does not believe in narrow-minded and hate-based politics,” he said.

“Ali baba and forty thieves were sitting together on Friday in Gujranwala, and enemies have become friends today just to oppose Imran Khan,” he said.

Sheikh said “the failure of the Gujranwala rally” showed that the masses would not support them for the pursuance of their personal agendas.

PTI Karachi President and MPA Khurram Sher Zaman said that if Prime Minister Imrran Khan allowed the party, it alone could organise rallies bigger than the rallies of 11 parties’ alliance.

He claimed that Rs100 million had been spent on banners in Karachi for the PMD event on Sunday. He said there was a clear contradiction between the words and deeds of the Sindh chief minister. “On the one hand, the chief minister asks the people to stay careful because of the coronavirus, but on the other hand, he is hosting the rally himself,” he said.

Zaman said that when Maryam came to Karachi, she should ask Bilawal what his party had delivered in Sindh during the 12 years of its rule.

smuggled falcons: The Anti-Smuggling Organisation of the Pakistan Customs has seized 75 birds of endangered species worth millions of rupees.

Qamar Thalho, a spokesman for the customs, said on Saturday the Anti-Smuggling Organisation conducted two search operations in the Defence neighbourhood and seized a large number of exotic birds declared endangered species under the International Convention on Illegal Trade on Endangered Species.

The raids were conducted after a tip-off was received that unscrupulous persons involved in the illegal trade of smuggled birds at a residential property, and the birds were also being exported illegally to foreign countries.

In view of the significance of the information, clandestine surveillance was mounted, which confirmed this information.

Based on this initial spadework, an operation was conceived under which two teams headed by senior officers were constituted to conduct search operations in late hours.