PPP slams technocrats govt 'plan'

As rumours swirl about a technocrats' government in the country, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has bluntly repudiated the very notion of letting such a dispensation to take the country's helm.

Speaking at the 98th birth anniversary of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former Prime Minister and PPP's founder chairman, in Hyderabad on Friday, PPP Sindh's President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro called the technocrats government 'unconstitutional and undemocratic.'

Khuhro, who also heads Sindh Assembly's Public Accounts Committee, said his party considered it a violation of the constitution. "There is no space for a government of technocrats in the constitution."

He underscored that the federal and provincial governments can only be formed through the public votes which are given in the general elections, discarding the idea of letting a select coterie of the technocrats to become the rulers. "We won't allow any conspiracy to establish a technocrat's government."

He pointed out that a campaign is being carried out on social media to build public consensus for a technocrats' government. The creation of new provinces is also a part of the same plan, he added.

"We want to seem national and provincial assemblies complete the respective tenures after which the people shall elect their new government in the country," he said.

The PPP's provincial leader asserted that his party's stiff opposition to such plans will make conspiracies for creation of new provinces in Pakistan and slashing provincial shares from the National Finance Commission (NFC) award figments of imagination of the proponents.

He underlined that the share of provinces can also be increased under the NFC but not vice versa. Khuhro denounced the worst gas load shedding which is being enforced in Sindh, complaining that the province is also not being given representation in the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA).

He assured the PPP's supporters that his party will never make any compromise on Sindh's rights, like the way they opposed construction of new canals on the Indus River. Earlier, a cake weighing 98 pounds was cut to celebrate the birthday.