DADU: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Liaquat Ali Jatoi, who is a former chief minister of Sindh, has demanded formation of a joint investigation team (JIT) by the Supreme Court against former president Asif Ali Zardari to look into the alleged corruption of over Rs4 trillion. He also announced a series of public meetings to be held in different towns of Sindh soon to press for the demand.

Speaking at a press conference at the residence of a party colleague, Ashiq Ali Zaunr, here on Monday, Mr Jatoi insisted that the corruption case in which the PPP co-chairman was recently acquitted must be reinvestigated.

Rejecting the acquittal, the PTI leader said Zardari must be made to face a JIT like the one formed by the SC for ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members in the infamous Panama Papers case.

He claimed that Zardari was at the centre of massive corruption running into around Rs4.6tr that had plagued the country, especially Sindh. He appealed to the apex court to take suo motu notice of the matter and order formation of a JIT.

Alleging that Zardari and his party’s government in Sindh had devastated the province through corruption to amass assets worth trillions of rupees, Mr Jatoi said that PTI would organise public gatherings in Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Kandhkot, Larkana and other cities in the province after Eidul Azha to highlight the issue and demand a thorough investigation into the massive corruption.

He said PTI chairman Imran Khan would also address some of these public meetings, a schedule of which would be announced soon.

Mr Jatoi said that corruption had already routed PPP in three provinces and now due to these malpractices the party was becoming unpopular in Sindh as well.

“People are now looking to the PTI to save Sindh and its vital interests,” he said, and referred to the strength of the recent public meeting addressed by Imran Khan in Sukkur. He said it was an eye-opener for the PPP and other political forces in Sindh.

He said the PPP must realise now that winds of change had started blowing. PTI’s Sukkur show had disturbed PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, he added.

Mr Jatoi said that once the investigation into Zardari’s [alleged] corruption would begin, almost all ministers would stand exposed in the massive scam. Already, he recalled, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was conducting a probe into Rs25 billion land scam involving the Sindh chief minister and his close associates.

PPP lawmakers warn Jatoi over ‘wild allegations’

PPP MNAs Rafique Ahmed Jamali (Dadu, Johi) and Imran Zafar Leghari (Mahar, Khairpur Nathan Shah) held a joint press conference at the party’s Dadu district office on Monday to warn Liaquat Jatoi against levelling “wild allegations” against Asif Zardari and other PPP leaders.

They said PTI chairman Imran Khan, Mr Jatoi and their other colleagues must refrain from maligning PPP leaders as everyone knew that Zardari and his associates had been implicated in politically-motivated cases.

They said PTI leaders should also mind their language while criticising others, adding that decency must be observed in politics.

They said Zardari was acquitted in the corruption case because it was instituted on baseless allegations.

Senior PPP activists including Gul Hassan Qambrani, Shabbir Ahmed Abro and Qambar Leghari were also present at the press conference.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2017