PPP reaction: Memon lashes out at Nawaz, nationalists

Calls meeting between Nawaz Sharif and nationalists parties being "against Pakistan".

KARACHI:

Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has said that the meeting between Nawaz Sharif and the leaders of Sindh’s nationalists parties has “given a clear message that they are working on similar lines, which is against Pakistan”.

Addressing a press conference at the Pakistan Peoples Party media cell on Tuesday, Memon said that Sindhi nationalists have never accepted Pakistan or the federation, and people must view their meetings with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief in this context.

Memon said that their alliance would not make any difference because the PML-N cannot win even one union council seat. He said that Nawaz is not sincere to the cause of Sindh, and he accused Sharif of populism with his statements to expose and arrest Benazir Bhutto’s assassins.

“The current government has spared no effort in the Benazir Bhutto murder case. During his tenure, Nawaz declared Shaheed Benazir Bhutto a ‘security risk’. We want him to avoid shedding crocodile tears because the PPP government is committed to resolving the case,” he said.

He added that dozens of fabricated cases were lodged against Benazir and Asif Ali Zardari during PML-N’s tenure, and Zardari was tortured and kept in jail for several years. Saif-ur Rehman, the former chairman of the NAB, who was the ‘author’ of these false charges, has already apologised, and disclosed how and why he had registered the case in their tenure, he said.“Despite political differences between the PPP and the PML-N, the government of Sindh provided Nawaz with the protocol given to a chief minister,” Memon said.

Replying to a question, Memon said that while the PML-N leader was holding the government responsible for the energy crisis, it was during his tenure that the Thar Coal and Keti Bunder projects were shut down. While the PML-N talks about reviving a democratic culture, the Sindh Assembly was locked up and governor rule was imposed during their tenure.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2011.