CM Murad accuses PTI of deflecting attention from inflation

Stresses need for unity among political stakeholders in light of Indian hostilities in Kashmir

HYDERABAD: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf's (PTI) Central government has been trying to deflect attention from inflation by raking up issues pertaining to opposition parties. Talking to the media in Thana Bula Khan Town of Jamshoro district on Saturday, Shah said that the federal ministers' recent threats of more arrests of opposition leaders was an attempt in the same direction.

"Some ministers make frivolous statements to divert the public attention from inflation and the government's policies which have been creating inflationary trends," he said. He contended that the arrest of former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari was a regrettable act on part of the government.

Zardari had been completely cooperating in the investigation being conducted against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), he added. "[MPA] Faryal Talpur was shifted to Adiala prison by NAB on the eve of Eidul Azha," he deplored.

Shah emphasized on the need of demonstrating unity across political stakeholders in Pakistan in view of prevailing tensions with India and for internationalising the Kashmir dispute. The CM said the arrests of opposition leaders will not dent the opposition's movement against the PTI's government.

"But the PTI government has rather zeroed in on political opponents which will end up creating more chaos in the country," he said. "The way the [PTI] government has been behaving is the hallmark of a defeatist approach."

Responding to a question, he denied that yet another reshuffle in the provincial cabinet is on the cards. He maintained that the PPP senators, MNAs, MPAs and workers are united and they are ready to confront the pressures being exerted on the party's leadership.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, who also visited Thano Bula Khan to condole with MPA Malik Asad Sikandar over his mother's demise, said all the political parties in Pakistan are on the same page over the Kashmir issue.

He tacitly dispelled the CM's impression that the country is sending any message of political divide over Kashmir to the global community.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2019.