Options for ‘in-house change in Punjab’ under consideration

Tarar says PTI should utilise money to help flood victims instead of using it to hold rallies

ISLAMABAD:

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Attaullah Tarar on Saturday rejected rumours of imposing governor rule in Punjab, saying however other constitutional options were under consideration for an in-house change in the province.

Tarar fired a broadside at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for holding public meetings in Punjab as well as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and spending around Rs250-300 million on each gathering, emphasising that the amount should have been utilised to help the flood-affected people.

“The incumbent coalition government believes in serving the flood-affected people on a priority basis and not doing politics of personal gains,” Tarar said while addressing a news conference here.

"It is unfortunate that a party (PTI) is busy doing politics in these testing times instead of making concerted efforts to reduce sufferings of the flood-affected people in the country."

Tarar said in these testing times when the people of Punjab were badly hit by the flood, the provincial government moved a summary of Rs400 million to purchase new vehicles for ministers and advisers.

He said it was unfortunate that the PTI leadership in Punjab, K-P, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir miserably failed to heal the wounds of the people hit by the flood.

He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had visited the flood-hit areas of the country and met with the affected families in K-P, Punjab Balochistan and Sindh.

The SAPM said Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and his son were acting as facilitators for Imran Khan to arrange political gatherings in the province.

"Pervaiz Elahi has not visited the flood-hit areas," he alleged, adding that Punjab’s flood-hit areas were facing a shortage of medicines, food and other necessary items.

Tarar said the PTI leaders were using Punjab as a platform to promote their anti-state narrative.

He alleged that Farah Gogi had been given an “NRO” by the Punjab government in all the corruption cases.

He questioned why two director generals of anti-corruption had been changed in a short time, saying: "They had been changed just to give NRO to Farah Gogi."

He said that Farah Gogi did all the corruption in line with the directions of Imran Khan's family.

He alleged that Farah Gogi was facilitated by the PTI leadership to fly outside the country.

He said Elahi has distributed about 832 jobs among his favourites. app