ISLAMABAD: Expres­sing concern over the ongoing trial of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur in Rawalpindi, Sindh Information Minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Saeed Ghani has called for shifting of trials of the leaders of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Sindh.

Speaking at a press conference with PPP media coordinator Nazir Dhoki here on Sunday, Mr Ghani said that it had never happened in the country’s history that “cases on the charges concerning Sindh are being tried in another province”. Moreover, he added, even the accused had been kept in a prison of another province.

Mr Ghani said if the PPP leaders were being tried and kept in jail outside Sindh, then why the cases of Aleema Khan, Jahangir Tareen, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Zulfi Bukhari and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Ilahi could not be heard in Sindh. He said these leaders should also be incarcerated in Sindh prisons.

The provincial minister said the PPP leaders had been arrested only on charges which had neither been investigated nor proved, but the PTI members of the federal, Punjab and KP cabinets had not been arrested or tried despite charges of mega corruption.

He said Asif Zardari and Faryal Talpur were being treated worse than Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, Indian pilot Abhinandan and former spokesman for the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan Ihsanullah Ihsan.

Mr Ghani regretted that Ms Talpur was not allowed to attend Sindh Assembly session by the Punjab authorities though her production order was issued by the speaker.

“This is the way the federation is treating representatives of Sindh,” he said, recalling that former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had also been tried in Punjab.

He said, the allegation on which Mr Zardari and Ms Talpur were languishing in prison concerned Sindh, but they were being kept in a jail in Punjab. The decision to send this case to Punjab was against the law and constitution, he added.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2019