Govt accused of unfair distribution of funds

Sarwar blames Punjab Police for poor security in the province


Our Correspondent March 28, 2016
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader and former governor Chaudhry Sarwar speaking to PTI workers. PHOTO: EXPRESS

BAHAWALPUR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader and former governor Chaudhry Sarwar arrived in Bahawalpur on Sunday night on a two-day visit to meet party men ahead of intra-party elections.

Speaking to PTI workers at the residence of former railway minister Malik Farooq Azam, Sarwar criticised the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led government for what he called an unfair distribution of development funds.

He said instead of distributing funds in accordance with the [National] Finance Commission award, the incumbent rulers were disbursing the resources according to their whims.

He said that instead of spending on the welfare of thousands of unemployed youngsters across the country, the government had allocated huge funds for less-important schemes like Yellow Cabs and the Orange Line Metro Train. The inflation had added to people’s woes, the former governor said.

Sarwar alleged that the budget allocated by the provincial government for plantation drives was more than the funds reserved for the development of Bahawalpur. He accused the authorities of corruption saying that in some instances a plant costing Rs5 was purchased for Rs100.

The PTI leader said that when it came to power, the PTI government would make sure that Bahawalpur was not discriminated against with regard to development. “We will not allow any injustice with the people of Bahawalpur,” he said.

Sarwar said people from across the world, particularly those in the Middle East and European countries, acknowledged Nawab Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi’s services for the country.

He accused Punjab Police of abetting crime in the province saying that several officers in the force had backed robbers. On the other hand, he said, the police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which was governed by the PTI, had been doing their best to maintain law and order across the province.

“It is wrong to claim that a protest demonstration in one city could hamper growth of the entire country,” Sarwar said in an apparent reference to the claim that the PTI sit-in in Islamabad had stalled national development.

Sarwar condemned Sunday’s suicide attack at Lahore’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park in which at least 72 people had died.

“My heart goes out to those who lost their loved ones in the bombing. We will defeat terrorists with the army’s help,” he said. The PTI leader demanded that the government arrest and punish those behind the carnage.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29th, 2016.

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