SUKKUR: Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh has said that Pakistan Peoples Party is raising the issue of water shortage at this juncture to divert peoples’ attention away from the provincial government’s blatant failure in maintaining law and order in Sindh.

Shaikh, who is also vice president of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Sindh, said at a press conference here on Wednesday that bandits were freely uploading their TikTok videos on social media flaunting their weapons and frightening citizens but Sindh government failed to see them as they “see only Haleem Adil as a terrorist”.

He said the case about murder of policemen in Shikarpur riverine area should be lodged against Sindh IGP. Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed federal interior minister to hold a meeting over crumbling law and order conditions in Sindh, he said.

He rejected Sindh police’s claim that the force lacked modern weapons and said that law and order was a provincial subject under the 18th Amendment. Action had been taken against Chotu gang in katcha area in Punjab but no action was being taken against the “PPP gang”, he said.

He said the federal government could send Pak Army and Rangers to the province to restore peace if the Sindh government submitted a written formal request in this regard. If the federal government sent army and Rangers on its own then the provincial government would cry that Sindh’s autonomy had been attacked, he said.

He said that if and when Pak Army landed in the province it would arrest dacoits in katcha as well as pukka areas and that was the reason these people did not want any operation in Sindh.

Sheikh said that 44 per cent of development funds were swallowed by corruption mafia in Sindh. PPP government had not brought even a “single bus” on Karachi’s roads during past 13 years and lawlessness had become order of the day in Sindh while poor people were deprived of even basic facilities, he said.

He said the federal government would begin Green Line service this year. The federal government was working on Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway and Nai Gaaj dam and it had given Rs1,100 billion package to Sindh during last two and a half years.

He said the federal government had started work on development projects in Sindh and it was also supplying vaccine while the PPP government had bled the poor dry.

He praised the PTI assembly members for having exposed the corrupt and said it was sad Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah visited the area where the policemen had been killed after three days. The Sindh government had completely failed to control law and order because patrons of bandits were sitting in assemblies and corridors of power.

He alleged that PPP rulers had vehemently raised the issue of water shortage to divert masses’ attention away from Bahria Town and dacoits’ issues while influential landlords and PPP leaders themselves were stealing water. IGP Sindh who was nowhere to be seen after the incident should be suspended and booked in the case of policemen’s murder, he said.

Earlier, Sheikh appeared before a court in Mirpur Mathelo in connection with a case about Ghotki by-election. The court adjourned the hearing to June 16.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2021