PM accused of establishing powerless South Punjab Secretariat

MULTAN: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders Tuesday criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Multan and said he had established the south Punjab secretariat without financial powers.

Reacting to the visit of the PM to Multan, ex-Punjab governor Syed Ahmed Mehmood said the PM took a U-turn and established a powerless secretariat while the locals were struggling for a separate province not a secretariat.

He said the PTI-led government was fooling the Saraiki region people to grab their votes and a fake promise of a separate province was promised three years ago. He alleged PM Imran Khan was deceiving the people of south Punjab in the name of secretariat.

The south Punjab PPP president Syed Ahmed Mehmood said the government should stop insulting farmers by issuing Kisan Cards.

He said the PTI-led government imported wheat, sugar and cotton and it was a tragic event in the history of the country. He said the government policies had destroyed agricultural sector in the country.

Ahmed Mehmood said cotton production in Pakistan has fallen by 34 per cent compared to last year to a 30-year low due to failed policies towards cash crop. He said the PTI-led government launched so-called Agriculture Productivity Enhancement Program by excluding cotton from the program. He said farmers in Lahore would never forget the brutality and martyrdom of the Buzdar government.

He said if anti-agriculture policies were not changed, then the farmers of south Punjab would protest against the government. He said the most destructive government has exploited the people of South Punjab. He said now the people have realised that the PPP was the only party that could give the people of south Punjab an identity in the form of a separate province.