DADU: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf parliamentary party leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Shaikh has said that his party is not seeking abolition of the 18th Constitutional Amendment; rather it is inclined to modify it with a view to improve it if need be.

He was speaking to the media at the residence of a party leader, Sardar Hakim Ali Khan Noohani, in Sehwan late on Monday evening.

He claimed that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was out to criticise PTI on the amendment issue only to mount pressure on the federal government to provide relief to its leaders and their associates in cases of massive corruption.

Under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, Rs662bn had been released to Sindh and the huge amount must be accounted for, he said, and alleged that much of the money had been wasted or syphoned off over the past decade.

“No improvement had been brought about in the health and education sector, children in Tharparkar are dying due to malnutrition and lack of proper health facilities, road network in the province is in a shambles,” he said and asked where the huge amounts of the funds had been utilised.

In this regard, he referred to the investigations currently under way against several associates of the top PPP leadership, saying that all those found involved in massive corruption were destined for jail.

“That’s why [PPP co-chairman] Asif Ali Zardari has started addressing public meetings of his party and press conferences,” he said and described these events as his “farewell parties”.

Criticising Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah for failing to overcome water crisis in the province, Mr Shaikh said he could not ensure availability of drinking water even in his own constituency.

He said that PPP of [founding chairman] Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a party of all four provinces but under the leadership of Asif Zardari it had now become “a party of four divisions”. He said that Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda would visit Manchhar Lake within the next few days to review PTI’s plan for its rehabilitation.Sardar Noohani, Raees Habibullah Rind, Khawind Ali Noohani, Rajib Ali Shahani, Sadam Ali Kumbhar and other PTI leaders were present.

Sindh PTI president Amir Bakhsh Bhutto, speaking at the party’s convention of Larkana division workers in Jacobabad on Tuesday, alleged that the PPP and PML-N inflicted an irreparable loss to the country during their respective rules, our Sukkur correspondent adds.

He said that the national wealth looted during their tenure was estimated to be in trillions of rupees.

Mr Bhutto said that the PTI government had achieved many things within its first 100 days but most important of them was liberation of institutions from corrupt elements.

He claimed that Asif Zardari got billions of rupees laundered through people like model Ayan Ali. “He forcefully pursued the case of Ayan Ali’s arrest through as big lawyers as Farooq H. Naik and Latif Khosa but he did not take due interest in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case,” the PTI leader said.

PTI’s Larkana division president Mir Raja Khan Jakhrani, Mohammed Akram Abro, Sardarzada Maula Bakhsh Soomro, Naheed Khuhawar, Safia Baloch, Sri Chand Bhawani and other party activists also spoke.

They observed that the PPP and PML-N left the country under a huge financial burden in the shape of foreign debts and the PTI government had to first overcome the resultant financial and economic crises.

They informed the Sindh PTI chief that out of 664 development schemes of Jacobabad, only 23 were executed by the Sindh government and the funds for the rest were misappropriated. Such case was pending adjudication in the Supreme Court, they added.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2018