All but one PPP MPA have handed in resignations: CM

KARACHI:

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah confirmed on Tuesday that all Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPAs except one had handed over their resignations to the party's leadership.

"This is a minor issue and there is no need to worry over it though," he remarked, adding that the MPAs held a seat in the provincial assembly on the party's ticket and it was the party's 'right' to ask them to give it up.

The CM was addressing media persons at the Sindh Assembly building on Tuesday.

Resignations from multiple PPP lawmakers in Sindh had trickled in earlier this month, after the 11-party opposition alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement, announced that parliamentarians from its constituent parties would hand in their resignations to their respective party chiefs by the end of the month - a last-ditch attempt to send the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led federal government packing.

When asked about reports of the PDM leadership having established backdoor contacts with the establishment, the CM, expressed ignorance.

"This purely concerns the PDM leadership and I don't know what is happening on that front," he remarked. "Only the PDM leadership can answer this question."

Workers Welfare Fund

The CM criticised the Centre for "centralising the collection of the Workers Welfare Fund (WWF)".

He said that under the 18th Amendment, the collection of the fund was devolved to provinces and the Sindh Assembly had also passed a bill in this regard.

Saying that he could not recall when the matter was last taken up during a CCI meeting, he added, "But it is very clear that the CCI cannot supersede the provincial law".

PIA's destruction and PSM employees

Separately, PPP MNA Nafeesa Shah also slammed the federal government for "destroying the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)".

Addressing a press conference, she said, "First, the licences of 262 pilots were declared fake and now 7,500 employees of the national flag carrier will be dismissed. [Prime Minister] Imran Khan has turned the country into a junkyard."

Accompanying her, Sindh Women Development Minister Shehla Raza assured that the PPP would continue to support the dismissed employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2020.