KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Sindh leaders have said that there is no threat to Sindh if the federation issues directives as per Constitution for betterment of the province.

Addressing a press conference outside the Sindh Assembly, PTI Sindh chapter president Haleem Adil Sheikh, Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi and other PTI MPAs said that so far no directive was issued under Article 149 of the Constitution.

“We want to ask Raza Rabbani why Bilawal’s maternal grandfather kept Article 149 in the Constitution, if this article was so bad,” asked Haleem Adil.

He said under this article the federation only had to issue direction for improvement of the situation; however, so far this article was not implemented. He said if the federation issued any direction for the betterment of Sindh, it should not be considered a threat.

He said PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in his statement had proved that he was not a follower of Benazir Bhutto but instead a follower of Altaf Hussain.

‘Those talking about Bangladesh and Sindhudesh are not friends of Pakistan’

He said Altaf Hussain had talked about ‘Jinnahpur’ and Bilawal talks about ‘Sindhudesh’.

Mr Sheikh said strong provinces were guarantee of a strong Pakistan.

He said those who were talking against Sindh were enemies of Pakistan. He said to talk about breaking Pakistan was treason. “This is not 1971 and this is not a Pakistan of Bhutto, but this is the Pakistan of the Captain.”

He said some corrupt politicians were issuing irresponsible statements to save their skin. He claimed that Asif Ali Zardari had raised the slogan of ‘Pakistan Khappay’, but now people knew that by khappay “he wanted to sell Pakistan”.

He alleged that the PPP had sold whole Sindh to Omni Group and Zardari Group.

He said the opposition the previous day made a circus in parliament during the address of President Arif Alvi.

He said the PPP was proving itself an anti-country party and their negative talks were highlighted by Indian TV channels.

He said Nawaz Sharif also showed his enmity to the country. He added that the Sindh government wanted to hide its failure under the issue of this article. “We will protest against the PPP government which has given AIDS and other diseases to Sindh.”

He said Federal Minister Farogh Naseem belonged to his own party which had cleared his statement. He asked Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to tender apology before the nation for his statement.

Opposition Leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi said the Constitution of Pakistan guarantees the rights of citizens.

He said in Karachi there was an acute water shortage. The Karachi strategic committee had already begun its work, he added.

“We have submitted a resolution in Sindh Assembly to say that we are against any division of Sindh. This assembly in past had also passed a resolution against the division of Sindh. Sindh is a part of Pakistan and we condemn such persons who want its division,” he added.

“We will call those who are talking against the integrity of Pakistan traitors.”

He said the people talking about Bangladesh and Sindhudesh were not friends of Pakistan. He said they would discuss this issue during debate on their resolution on Monday.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2019