Sindh CM blames MQM for Tharparkar deaths

Qaim Ali Shah says drought in Tharparkar is a regular occurence but no MQM MPA has visited to monitor the situation

MITHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, while defending Pakistan Peoples Party's governance in Sindh, blamed on Wednesday the deaths in Tharparkar on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

In his media briefing in Mithi, Tharparkar, the chief minister said the MQM was their partner in the provincial government since 2008, and Dr Saghir Ahmed was the health minister for most of the time.

“The health department was mainly with the MQM till their resignations were accepted last week," he said.

Qaim said the MQM minister did not come to Tharparkar even once in his tenure, adding that if he was so worried, he could have visited the hospitals and met the doctors in Mithi.

“Why was he not here in last three years,” he asked.  “They had own their own government since 2001.”

The chief minister argued that drought in Tharparkar was a regular occurrence for years now, but no minister had come to monitor the situation.

He said the health department had been with the MQM for the last 20 years, and the PPP had its control for the last one month only, as Muttahida lawmakers had joined the opposition now.

Sindh CM arrived in Mithi with a security convoy of 30 police mobiles to address issues in Tharparkar on Wednesday morning.

Earlier on Monday, MQM leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said his party will do its best to help rehabilitate drought victims in Thar.