PTI demands governor’s rule in Sindh for six months

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s Karachi leaders on Sunday demanded the imposition of the governor’s rule in Sindh for six months to resolve the problems of the province as they called the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led Sindh administration and the chief minister ‘incompetent’.

Addressing a press conference, PTI Karachi chief and MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman said the PPP had sworn not to resolve the problems of Sindh. “The governor’s rule should be imposed in Sindh for six months and the PTI will show the PPP working in these six months how to resolve the problems,” said Zaman.

PTI Karachi Senior Vice President Mahmood Molvi, MPA Shehzad Qureshi, Sameer Mir Sheikh, Fiza Zeeshan, Gohar Khattak and others accompanied him. Zaman alleged that Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was not eligible to rule the province. “Murad Ali Shah has been proved to be the most failed chief minister of the province. If the PPP has not brought about a change in Sindh, we will think how the change can be brought about,” he said.

The PTI city chief said the 18th amendment had severely damaged Sindh and only PPP supremo Asif Ali Zardari had benefited from the amendment.

He said the lives of the people of Sindh had become worse. Reacting to the pre-budget speech of the CM in the Sindh Assembly, Zaman commented, “The Sindh chief minister did not speak for the betterment of the people. We wanted the chief minister to come up with some suggestions. He did not talk about water, school, health, and education.”

He added that there was no transport facility for the people of Karachi. “Murad Ali Shah did not say anything about the Orange Line, just said that they will run it before the Green Line,” Zaman stated.

The PTI leader said they were waiting for the allotment of land to build a cemetery. “We are waiting for CM Shah to tell us where the development money was spent.” Showing concern over the rising incidents of street crime in various neighbourhoods, including Defence, Clifton, Bahadurabad, and Gulistan-e -Jauhar, he said the PTI was waiting for the CM to tell that he had set up an emergency service.

The CM had no plans for hospitals and most of the state-run hospitals were being run by NGOs, Zaman remarked. “CM Shah does not see any good in Imran Khan. Pakistan's system has improved and the whole world is praising him,” he said.

According to the PTI leader, people of Sindh were dying and not getting basic rights. Public schools were in bad shape and children were studying in private schools, he said. Zaman said that after the CM’s pre-budget speech, the Pak Sarzameen Party and Jamaat-e-Islami were silent. “The silence of political parties is questionable,” he added.

He said that the popularity of the prime minister had further increased as health cards were being issued in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. “But we in Sindh are helpless because of the 18th amendment. The provincial government is not allowing the people of Sindh to get health cards,” he said.

NA-249 by-election

The PTI leaders on Saturday alleged that the Sindh Election Commission had teamed up with the Sindh government to rig the by-polls in the province and it was the reason that major political parties had boycotted the recounting process of the NA-249 by-election and demanded a re-election in the constituency.

Addressing a press conference outside the GCT College in the SITE area where the recounting process was under way on Saturday, Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh alleged that after rigging the PS-88 by-poll in Malir, the provincial election commission helped the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) provincial government rig the NA-249 by-poll.

Sheikh said that 17,000 votes had been removed and 10,000 anonymous votes were registered in the Baldia Town constituency.

He added that PPP leader Saeed Ghani had abandoned his education and labour ministry and started managing the presiding officers. “Same teachers of the education department from PS-88 had been brought to perform duties in NA-249,” he alleged.

Sheikh said the Sindh government spent Rs1.5 billion in one-and-a-half months in NA-249 to influence the by-poll. “District Returning officer Naeem Haider and Returning officer Sajid Khattak both work for the PPP,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, PTI parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly Bilal Ghaffar expressed his concerns over massive traffic jams across the city and said the PPP’s provincial government had not given Karachi a smooth traffic system during its 14 years-rule in the province. “Instead of focusing on making its governance better, the Sindh government spent its all energies on criticising the federal government,” said Ghaffar.