LARKANA: Shah Mehmood Qureshi, vice chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), has shrugged off criticism over his party’s decision to launch movement against corruption from Sindh and said historically speaking, Sindh has always heralded change.

He was addressing participants in the PTI’s ‘rally against corruption’ at Jinnahbagh Chowk, which reached here on Friday after touring a number of cities, starting off from Karachi on April 26. Only politically immature people were asking why the campaign against corruption had been launched from Sindh, he said.

Sindh had a history of movements for change, whenever a movement began here it ultimately brought about change in the country, he said.

He referred to the Pakistan Resolution passed by Sindh Assembly and said that protests that started here proved to be instrumental in sending Gen Ayub Khan home and forced Gen Pervez Musharraf to shed his uniform. Movement against Kalabagh Dam project was also one such example, he said.

He called the PTI’s caravan a ‘voice for change’ and said people had got sick of corruption. Take for instance Sindh where massive amount of funds had been misappropriated in the name of development and siphoned off but the state of health, education and development sectors did not turn healthy, he said.

About the Panama Papers issue, Mr Qureshi said that those who had injected huge amounts of money in offshore companies were not worried about the poor man’s hut.

Today, corruption, unemployment, poverty and injustice had plagued Pakistan and sapped its resources, he said, asking residents of Larkana why they acted as silent spectators on the prevalent state of affairs.

Mr Qureshi said the huge participation in the PTI rally should serve as an eye-opener for opponents and they should see how eagerly people were listening to their message in the scorching heat touching more than 40 degrees Celsius.

He said he saluted Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who was the backbone of Pakistani politics. “I am a worker of PTI who opted to do politics of positive change after having kicked off the politics of money. We are here to sensitise people against corruption,” he said.

He criticised Sindh government for its failure to fix fair price of wheat, sugarcane, paddy and cotton and invited people to be part of PTI for a new Pakistan.

The PTI rally received warm welcome at different places en route Larkana from Khairpur. Shafqat Unnar, local leader of PTI, received the rally in Larkana where people who had gathered at different welcome camps set up by the party showered rose petals on party leaders and participants.

Later, speaking at district bar association Mr Qureshi said that every baby born in the country was already under the burden of Rs110,000 loan and this huge burden of loans could be cleared only if the public money deposited in foreign banks was brought back, he said.

He lamented that the country’s resources had been plundered ruthlessly over the past 60 years. A major chunk of the poor man’s income was swallowed up by taxes, he said and criticised the government for imposing arbitrary terms of International Monetary Fund on the nation.

He said that electricity tariff had been raised thrice. The rulers while deciding on National Finance Commission completely ignored needs of backward areas.

He said the water issue was very sensitive as it could sour relations between provinces.

The PTI leader also visited Qambar and met Hussain Shah Qambar Waro.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2016