PTI plans PM’s visit to Sindh next month to give PPP tough time

Amid the ongoing anti-federal-government campaign by the opposition parties, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has planned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit next month to Sindh.

The PM is expected to announce mega development projects and criticise the provincial government performance in his expected visit. Sources of the PTI Sindh chapter told The News that the PM in his next month's visit to Sindh would visit districts of rural parts of the province to announce mega development projects and meet leaders of the PTI’s coalition partners, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Grand Democratic Alliance, to forge a strategy to win maximum seats of Senate from Sindh.

PTI leader and former chief minister Liaquat Jatoi also met Iman Khan on Friday in Islamabad to discuss the political situation in Sindh and invited him to visit various districts of the province.

Firdous Shamim Naqvi, the opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, hosted a reception a few weeks ago in the honour of the PTI’s runner-up candidates against the PPP in various constituencies of rural Sindh. The PTI leaders termed the gathering a part of the party’s strategy to counter the PPP in its strongholds.

Mahmood Maulvi, a PTI Sindh leader and adviser to the ministry of maritime affairs, confirmed that the PM has accepted an invitation by the PTI Sindh chapter to visit the province next month.

“In his Sindh visit, PM Khan will announce an economic package of more than Rs400 billion for the region,” said Maulvi. “Sindh has been mired in problems for several decades and it is the responsibility of the PTI to assist [Sindhis].”

Criticising the PPP, the PTI leader said the ruling party in the province had pushed the region back to the stone ages. “The people of Sindh have been deprived of health and education and the malnutrition crisis is worsening.”

He said the PTI government would improve the standard of living by taking practical measures. “The prime minister desires to see equal economic development in all regions of the country. Therefore, the prime minister will visit Sindh next month to announce a development package which will usher in economic prosperity in the region.”