Only polls can avert economic default: Haleem

Leader of opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Shiekh has predicted that Pakistan will definitely face economic default if early elections are not called to end political uncertainty in the country.

While addressing a press conference at Hyderabad Press Club on Friday, he said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has already launched a drive “Election karao, mulk bachao”. He said that the new finance minister, Ishaq Dar, had promised that rupee would appreciate against the US dollar at Rs200, but he failed to do so. They are only running after the pending cases against them to be dropped.

“Today, a huge rally will be held at Lahore’s Liberty Chowk where some important announcements will be made,” he said, adding that the revolution started by the PTI would also sweep Sindh.

Sheikh said millions of flood-affected people were still waiting for help. Hardly, 40 per cent floodwater has been drained out until now, he added while regretting that the Sindh rulers lodged FIRs against those who protested for dewatering their villages. These FIRs should be quashed, he demanded.

Haleem mentioned that Bilawal Zardari was touring the whole world, but did not find time to visit Sindh. Bilawal has spent more than Rs1 billion from the government funds on his “promotional world tours, but he can’t become a Zulfikar Ali Bhutto”.

He said floods had also affected Punjab and KP but their governments successfully tackled it while in Sindh rehabilitation work was yet to be started. The Sindh irrigation department despite having a huge budget has failed to deliver due to corruption, he said. “The PPP government is responsible for deliberately inundating Sindh.”

Sheikh said a serious food security issue was about to surface as wheat crop has not been sown due to floodwater in the fields. “The country is facing a serious gas crisis. Russia is not giving gas to these rulers due to their credibility issue,” he added.

Sheikh said that the law and order situation in Sindh was very poor. “Dacoits of the riverine area are uploading videos to social media after raping children but nobody is taking action against them,” he added. “In Karachi, street crime has been on the rise and previous day a student of NED University was killed by dacoits,” he said. “This year alone, muggers have killed more than 100 citizens on resistance.”

He said that education and healthcare sectors in Sindh were teeming with corruption. He said billions of rupees have been embezzled in the PPHI contracts. He said that Sindh police were filthy corrupt and its job was to lodge cases against political opponents of their masters.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2022.