HYDERABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamenta­rians information secretary Maula Bux Chandio has rejected the prime minister’s announcement of development projects for Hyderabad as a mere electioneering stunt.

Talking to reporters at his residence on Monday night, he said the announcement of establishing a university in Hyderabad was a political gimmick. District PPP-P information secretary Ahsan Abro was also present.

Mr Chandio said the PM was welcome to visit Sindh being the elected prime minister of Pakistan, but he must remember that it was he who started the trend of not receiving the elected prime minister in Punjab when he was the chief minister of that province.

He said he (PM) had in fact attended a lunch hosted by an individual of his party and then addressed a gathering in a wedding hall. Those who were present at the lunch were not active political personalities and their statements were known to everyone, he said.

The PPP-P leader said the announcements made by the PM would remain the same because he never implemented decisions in his government.

He said he (PM) did not fulfil his promise regarding the release of funds for the K-IV project, sharing of expenses for the Karachi operation with the Sindh government and implementing decisions announced for Tharparkar.

He criticised Nawaz Sharif for prolonged load-shedding by the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company.

He said it did not suit the prime minister to talk about garbage of Karachi because the PPP was not responsible for the garbage dumped in the city in the past 25 years. He asked the PM to explain why Keti Bandar and Thar coal projects of the PPP were delayed by his government.

Mr Chandio said the premier should also explain why people from a particular province were terminated from their jobs and they were not given share in the federal government services.

He asked the PM to explain his national security policy and criticised him for describing the Qalandar shrine tragedy as a provincial issue. He said that when terrorists reached Sindh from other parts of the country, it could not be termed a provincial matter. He said Chaudhry Nisar and Nawaz Sharif should present their “federal” face.

He said ‘invisible powers’ always supported Nawaz Sharif regardless of the fact that he was taking on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), judiciary and federal institutions. He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was again raising conventional sentiments of political differences.

The PML-N could not fight the PPP while collecting defeated elements because the PML-N itself was a regional party, he said.

He said the people of Sindh trusted the Bhuttos, adding that the grandson of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto would visit Punjab again and again.

He said Monday’s visit of the prime minister was not a public visit. Those who were around the prime minister on Monday always lost elections. They could be important personalities in their individual capacity, but politically they were ‘irrelevant’ in Sindh, he said.

He said the federal government should announce the National Finance Commission award, which was the demand of Sindh and ensure transparency of the ongoing census.

He said the prime minister could not ‘conquer’ Sindh by announcing Rs500 million in Hyderabad. He (Nawaz) did not talk about levy of federal taxes in real estate sector, which was a genuine problem of people, he said.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2017