*Bilawal withdraws show-cause notices issued to PPP’s Wassan, Shah for publicising report which held PPP govt repsponsible for adverse situation in Thar
The death toll due to malnourishment during a three-year spell of drought reached another high with four more children losing their lives on Saturday, a private news channel reported. In the last 39 days, 45 children have died of malnourishment. Pakistan Army has also despatched troops to the area for relief and rescue services.
Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Saturday withdrew the show-cause notices issued to PPP Sindh President and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and PPP provincial Deputy General Secretary Manzoor Wasan over allegedly leaking to the media a Thar famine investigation report which put the onus of the Thar situation on mismanagement and corrupt practices of the Sindh government.
Critics of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led government Sindh have strongly condemned the failure of the authorities to quell the devastation caused by the drought spell in Tharparkar even though the PPP chairman is reportedly taking personal interest in the crisis recently and is said to be monitoring the situation closely.
PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari last year had tasked Wassan to hold an enquiry into the famine-like situation in Tharparkar and subsequent deaths of children so as to fix responsibility. Earlier this week, media reported the findings of the enquiry, which allegedly held the provincial government responsible for the deaths of children and corruption in distributions of relief goods. The report also stated that over 470 people including 300 children, and about 10,000 animals had perished in the drought since 2012.
The report caused embarrassment for PPP and the party chairman had issued show-cause notices to Wasan and Shah for leaking the report’s findings to media.
However, Bilawal House spokesman said that the show-cause notices have been withdrawn on the instructions of the PPP chairman.
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