Won’t allow Altaf-style politics again: Bilawal

PPP chief calls for legislation to ensure people with local domiciles get preference in jobs

KARACHI:

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said his party will not allow the province of Sindh to relapse into MQM founder Altaf Hussain-style ethic politics which, according to him, proved completely destructive.

“Sindh is the province of peace and tranquility and people in this province live like brothers,” the PPP chairman whose party rules over the province said on Monday while addressing an event at the Sindh Assembly building to commemorate the 68th birth anniversary of PPP slain chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

According to Bilawal, a handful of frustrated elements are as usual busy hatching conspiracies against the peace and tranquility in the province in the wake of some acts of vandalism at a private housing society in the outskirts of Karachi earlier this month.

“These elements are eager to mislead the youth, pushing them to the acts of violence, terrorism and extremism. These acts have to be stopped. It is very crucial to take measures to foil such conspiracies and to bring back those who have been trapped in the conspiracies,” he added.

He said the youth of the province has always been peaceful and its protests have also been peaceful. “We will also take all measures to remove the despondency and sense of deprivation that the people feel here,” he added.

The PPP chairman said it is the need of the hour to give preference to the people with local domiciles while giving jobs. “There should be a new law to ensure that locals get preferences in jobs in all businesses and real estate,” he added.

Bilawal also called for creating a forum to provide legal assistance to locals the displaced from their lands. “However, we will never allow anyone to inflict damages to lives and property of others,” he said in an apparent reference to acts of vandalism at the housing society.

Lambasting the PTI led federal government he said the fraudulent slogan of “change” on the basis of which the incumbent government was “selected and imposed” on the people is depriving the people of their basic needs of easy employment and shelter.

“This is what they call Naya Pakistan. They are destroying democratic norms and values. These frustrated elements are destroying the concept of federation and Islamic democratic system that [PPP founder] Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had given to the country and provinces were thus integrated.”

Also read: Bilawal pays homage to Benazir Bhutto on 68th anniversary

Bilawal said in spite of a financial crunch, challenges and unprecedented impediments that the global pandemic brought, the PPP led Sindh government sanely managed things and delivered amicably.

 “However, the rivals feel embarrassed and start criticizing and ridiculing the Sindh government,” he said in a reference to the federal information minister’s Sunday statement.

Fawad Chaudhry had once again launched an attack at the PPP led Sindh government, calling for monitoring of the funds provided to the provincial government while alleging that these funds are laundered to foreign countries including the UAE and Canada.

“Billions of rupees were allocated for Badin and Larkana [districts of Sindh] but no one knows where that money went. The funds provided to Sindh are sent abroad either through boats or fake bank accounts,” Chaudhry said on Sunday during his visit to the Karachi Press Club.

Referring to a recent observation of the chief justice of Pakistan with regard to the Sindh government’s performance, Fawad had said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah should resign after these remarks.

 Responding to the claims, Bilawal said a jaundiced eye always sees yellow in everything.

“But they can’t ditch the sane people of Sindh as the GDP of the province is better than other provinces due to well planning and determination of the people's elected Sindh government as compared to the selector's selected ineligible federal government.

“The selected and ineligible prime minister, Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, and his Punjab chief minister, Usman Buzdar, can’t compete with the Sindh CM. They should take lessons from Shah on how to use limited resources and slashed revenue for the uplift and betterment of the people,” he added.

He said there is no denying poverty in the province, but Sindh has reduced poverty as compared to other provinces, while the highest increase in poverty has been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sindh province's rural and urban per capita income is better than other provinces of the country.

The PPP chairman said the number of jobs for locals has been cut and the people have been deprived of their due rights. Even 10,000 people have been rendered jobless by retrenching the work force of Pakistan Steel Mills. They are also sacking officers of the FIA who hail from Sindh, he said.

Bilawal said the federal government has also closed the Public Service Commission in Sindh. “This deliberate closure of the commission is a direct threat to employees recruited as per the criteria of the commission since 2016,” he added.

The PPP chief vowed that he would continue to fight for the due share of the province in the National Finance Commission (NFC) award. “The PPP will never compromise on the constitutional rights of the people of Sindh as well as of other provinces,” he added.