PTI, PPP leaders engage in war of words

Zaidi claims opposition is expecting another NRO, Ghani says govt’s ‘ineffective policies’ affect one and all

KARACHI:

The political strife between the Pakistan Peoples Party and the ruling party in the Centre, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, deepened on Sunday, with leaders from both parties engaging in a war of words in the backdrop of another power show in Lahore by the Pakistan Democratic Movement and PPP lawmakers handing in their resignations.

Speaking on multiple occasions on the day, Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi claimed that the opposition, by holding PDM rallies, was expecting to be granted a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)-like deal, accusing the ministers from opposition parties of using resources from the national treasury for luxuries.

Moreover, he said, "The former rulers of the country took loans from other countries and international organisations and spent them on their own luxuries."

He went on to slam the Sindh government for "doing nothing for fishermen and appointing people like Nisar Morai and Uzair Baloch in the fisheries department."

Zaidi further said it seemed the opposition had no agenda since at one instance it talked about tendering resignations and at the other, it demanded elections.

He also said that 75 per cent employees in the ministry of maritime affairs have been recruited on the basis of them having a Karachi domicile, but the appointments should be made on merit.

"However, if merit is taken into consideration, even those topping in Sindh's institutions are unlikely to be appointed since the education system in the province has been destroyed," he remarked.

Meanwhile, Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani said the PTI was not a competitor of the PPP in any way in the province.

Addressing a press conference, when multiple individuals announced their inclusion in the PPP, Ghani maintained that PPP lawmakers were resigning with the aim to oust the federal government.

Moreover, he said, "The incompetent federal government is bewildered by the PDM's [rallies]," adding that its "ineffective policies" had badly affected traders, industrialists, farmers and other people from all walks of life.

"This government has made institutions like the judiciary controversial," he remarked, alleging the political activists in Lahore were being harassed. "They have been nominated in FIRs, booked for treason and put under house arrest," the minister claimed.

However, he added, this will not affect the PDM. In fact, Ghani went on, the foundation of the incumbent government has weakened and their time in power will soon come to an end.

In an attempt to mount pressure on the federal government, several legislators from the PPP submitted their resignations to the party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday. These included Sindh information minister Nasir Hussain Shah, who also holds the portfolios of provincial local government, housing and town planning, forest and religious affairs departments and PPP leader Sharjeel Inam Memon, who resigned from his seat as a member of the provincial assembly. Other MPAs submitting their resignations on the day included Fayaz Ali Butt, Muhammad Sajid Jokhio, Imdad Pitafi and Rana Hamir Singh. PPP lawmakers who tendered their resignations earlier include MNAs Syed Agha Rafiullah and Abdul Qadir Patel, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh and MPAs Surendar Valasai, Nida Khuhro and Sadia Javed.

On Tuesday, the 11-party opposition alliance announced that parliamentarians from its constituent parties would hand in their resignations to the respective party chiefs by the end of the month - a last-ditch attempt to send the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led federal government packing.

Meanwhile, after the PDM's announcement, resignations from several Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmakers in Punjab had begun pouring in as well, while one of its MNAs from Sindh, Kheal Das Kohistani, followed suit too.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2020.