PPP’s Shah displeased with Sattar’s detention

Says everyone should accept MQM-Pakistan’s disassociation with MQM-London

SUKKUR: Expressing displeasure over the detention of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Farooq Sattar for over an hour, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah said Sattar is the leader of a political party and therefore his arrest was not a good thing especially after MQM-P announced its disassociation with the MQM-London.

While addressing a news briefing on Saturday , Shah said it does not matter if the MQM-P, despite announcing its disassociation with the MQM-L, is still covertly in touch with the MQM-London. “We should accept their announcement of disassociation,” he said.

In response to a question about celebrating MQM’s founding day, he said in a lighter mood, MQM-P and MQM-L are twins and their dispute is upon the property. Both the factions of MQM are celebrating their founding day, separately, he said.



Criticising the Punjab government, he said, it scrapped its Sasti Roti project and sold the tandoors, while Danish schools, which were aimed to provide quality education to the poor, have also been closed. Despite all this, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) claims that the economy is being strengthened.

Shah said, “I cannot understand Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s statements regarding economic development because even a student of grade one can understand the situation of the economy, but Dar is claiming otherwise.”

He said when the Pakistan Peoples Party transferred power to the PML-N in 2013, the total foreign debt was $14 trillion and during three and a half years of the PML-N government it has went up to $21 trillion. Today, he said, Pakistan is facing isolation in the world community, which is due to the wrong foreign policies of the government. These wrong policies have forced our close friends Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates to look towards India, he said.

Commenting on the ongoing process of population census, Shah termed it very important and added that, reservations of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in this regard should be addressed. As far as migration is concerned, he claimed that a large number of Afghans had migrated to Sindh.



Most probably referring to the reserved verdict on Panama Papers in the apex court, Shah said, we are not habitual of accepting the verdicts of the courts wholeheartedly. Without referring to the attack on the apex court by the PML-N in 1997, he said, if decisions are not in our favour, we attack the courts and if it is in our favour, we appreciate the courts. “We must trust our institutions,” he said without referring to the recent decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in favour of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan.

He said we should accept the decisions of the ECP, but if anybody challenges these, the appeal should be decided within three days.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2017.