The Sindh chapter of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has announced holding a protest campaign across the province against Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif.
“Conspiracy against democracy is basically conspiracy against Pakistan. Those who are governing 64 percent of the country are blaming others for bad governance,” PML-Q central leaders said on Saturday while addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club where Sindh CM’s Adviser Haleem Adil Sheikh, Rahat Javed and Ruknuddin Mirani were also present.
Sheikh said Sharif had crossed the boundaries of moral values while addressing a rally a day earlier. “Sharif used cheap words for President Asif Ali Zardari,” he added. “Can the Punjab CM, who is governing 64 percent of the country, tell us if he has eliminated criminals from his province? Is everything OK in Punjab?” he asked Sharif.
“The time the PML-Nawaz (PML-N) spent on creating flags and banners should have been used for aiding the people affected by the dengue virus. Instead of ‘Go Zardari Go’, they should be working on ‘Go Dengue Go’,” he added. Sheikh said he does not know if the government of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would topple because of Sharif, but the Punjab CM has proven that he could rule no more.
“People like Sharif who can’t endure even a few days in jail are speaking against the system. It’s a conspiracy against democracy,” he added. He said the PML-N is experiencing political isolation, and the Sharif brothers (Shahbaz and Nawaz) are playing with the sentiments of the people of Punjab and Sindh alike.
“Nawaz’s claim that his party has dispatched 800 trucks of relief goods for the flood survivors is a lie. I challenge him to prove the Nawaz League has dispatched 800 trucks. We have counted these trucks and the PML-N has dispatched no more than 60 trucks,” he added. Sheikh said the Q-League supports the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)’s rally to be held on Sunday.
“If the MQM gives the PML-Q a formal invitation, the latter will participate,” he added. He said his party would launch a campaign in Sindh against the “undemocratic attitude” of Shahbaz Sharif and the PML-N leadership. Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon has also taken strong exception to Sharif’s statements against the president.
Addressing a press conference, Memon said the people of the country are intelligent enough to see through Sharif and his party’s actual motives. “The foul language used by Sharif against Zardari was an attempt to hide the misgivings of his party,” he added. He said the PPP leadership does not want to stoop to Sharif’s level, but the people are the best judge and they could never forget how the Sharif brothers looted them via the yellow cab scheme.
“Even during their present rule, the exchequer has been deprived of Rs 1.6 billion under the fake scheme of sasti roti,” he added. Memon said the PML-N is suffering from dengue fever and getting jittery due to their growing unpopularity due to bad administration in Punjab. Bad management on their part is evident from the fact that despite spending millions on fumigation to eliminate the dengue virus, no concrete results have been achieved so far and people in Punjab continue to die of dengue fever, he added.
He said it sounded extremely paradoxical that those who plundered the country and escaped abroad under an arrangement with a military ruler were now pointing fingers towards the leader of a party that has a long history of struggle and sacrifice. He advised the PML-N leader to desist from tactics that could provoke the people who could in turn go to any extent for the sake of maintaining democracy in the country.
“We shall not allow anyone to derail democracy and the democratic rule in the country,” he added.
Memon said Zardari, a great proponent of democracy, has already handed over all his authority to the parliament and the fact is largely appreciated by the people in general. Responding to a question regarding the rally taken out by the Sharif brothers in Lahore, he said it was a show of “patwaris and tehsildars”.
He said Sharif, while talking of a dynastic culture, failed to mention that this was very much prevalent in his own party and the administration managed by him in the largest province of the country. “The fact that his son Hamza Sharif is the de facto Punjab CM is known to all,” he added.
