CM dubs PTI a ‘U-turn’ party

HYDERABAD: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government was falling at the seams in fulfilling the commitments of change which the party's leadership made with its supporters. "They seem to have realised that it's easier said than done," said Shah, while talking to the media in Bubak, Jamshoro district, on Sunday.

"The PTI promised to build five million houses for the people but the fact is that the Federal Board of Revenue won't be able to collect the revenue required to build these homes." He dubbed the PTI as a 'U-turn' party whose only forte was generating false hopes.

Shah vowed that his party would resist the federal government's attempts to snatch autonomy from the provinces, referring to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's principled stance to defend the 18th Constitutional Amendment. The CM held the centre responsible for the water shortage in the province, saying that his government has already raised the issue with the Indus River System Authority and at the platform of Council of Common Interests (CCI). "We are preparing a strategy to effectively take up the issue."

The CM also found fault with the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shahbaz Sharif days before the by-elections. "His arrest should have been according to the law," he said.

Tharparkar drought

Responding to criticism over the delayed distribution of subsidised wheat among the calamity-hit people, Shah said the provincial government was providing 50 kilogrammes of wheat to each family in the district. He bewailed that the caretaker government stopped making payments to the operators of Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants in Tharparkar which created water shortage, adding that his government had recently released funds in this regard.

The CM said the PPP government had built roads and established healthare facilities which were earlier available only in the larger cities. He added that previously Tharparkar lacked road and phone communication networks but during the last decade, his party's government had established them.

Commenting over the Anti-Corruption Establishment's inquiry against Sindh University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Fateh Muhammad Burfat, the CM said his government wanted accountability of all institutions.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2018.