Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is responsible for the destruction caused by the floods in the province last year, as the judicial commission’s findings proved that the Punjab irrigation secretary diverted the floodwater on the CM’s orders, Punjab Opposition Leader Raja Riaz said on Monday. He was speaking at a press conference at the Lahore Press Club. Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Farooq Yousaf Ghurki, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders Haji Azizur Rehman Chan and Zikriya Butt were also present on the occasion. Riaz said that he had even pointed out the transgression at that time. He said that the Supreme Court (SC) should take a suo motu notice of the wrongdoing, otherwise, the PPP would move the court over the issue.
Regarding Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif’s instigations to ask the masses for sedition, Riaz said that it was the PML-N’s approach and had nothing to do with followers of former PM and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The Punjab opposition leader said that contrary to the PML-N’s politics of rivalry, the PPP was following the policy of reconciliatory politics adding that the party would continue cooperation with the PML-N, as it was a signatory of the Charter of Democracy (CoD) and would not topple the Punjab government.
He said that the Punjab CM would not be swayed whether he attended the Punjab Assembly’s (PA) session or not. Riaz demanded the provincial government to publicise report of the judicial commission on the destruction caused by the floods so that responsibility could be fixed. The PPP leader said that he and other opposition MPAs were demanding the Punjab CM to release the report but he was not paying heed to the demand, as he was involved in the destruction.
Replying to a question about resigning when he was the Punjab irrigation minister, Riaz claimed that the record could be verified that he pointed out the scandal in a press conference and could not resign owing to restrictions from the party leadership. He said that Nawaz is very sentimental these days and he could disclose the facts about the foreign currency evaporation during his regime when foreign currency accounts were frozen. The Punjab opposition leader appealed to the SC to hear the loan default cases worth billions of rupees against the Sharif brothers immediately so that the masses could see the real faces of these leaders.
Riaz reiterated that the PPP was still following reconciliatory politics under the CoD despite the fact that Nawaz had backed out from his commitment. He said that the PPP would not create disturbance in Punjab but the PML-N was mulling ways to create a chaotic situation in the country. Cautioning the PML-N, he said that it should not carry on the politics of confrontation. Riaz said that the Punjab CM should be a healthy person and not an ill man but whenever journalists asked that which disease Shahbaz suffers from, he avoided answering.
