KARACHI: Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal said on Friday that people’s loss of trust in the government and opposition seemed to show that they both were not interested in resolving problems of the masses.

Talking to reporters outside the accountability courts in Karachi and at Pucca Qila in Hyderabad, he said the government and opposition were least bothered whether people were getting food, clean water, justice, employment etc.

Commenting on the political situation in the country, he said the opposition was trying to topple the [PTI] government while the latter was trying to remove the opposition from the political scene. “The situation in Pakistan has never been so bad because frustration is on the rise among people due to the attitude of the government and opposition across the country.”

Criticising former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, he said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo spoke at a multiparty conference (MPC) like a revolutionary opposition leader, but he ignored the fact that the same MPC was hosted by a party which had been ruling Sindh for the past 12 years.

He said Mr Sharif should have condemned the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) at the MPC for causing destruction in Sindh, from Karachi to Kashmore. “What would be your reaction if a caretaker government refused to hold general election in the country?” he asked and reminded Mr Sharif that the PPP was not holding local government elections in the province.

Mr Kamal said that if the opposition was really committed to topple the PTI government, it should ask its lawmakers to resign from the assemblies and the government would fall within an hour.

He said that accusing, defaming, blaming and maligning state institutions and their heads was a huge conspiracy against Pakistan and might cause serious damage to the country.

However, he said that it app­eared as if the entire so-called accountability drive was meant to target the opposition. “If Prime Minister Imran Khan was really against corruption, he would have investigated the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) mayors. But for his government, MQM-P seats are more important than accountability,” he observed.

Addressing party workers in Pucca Qila at the party’s flag-hoisting ceremony and talking to reporters in the evening, he said disappointment among the people due to the attitude of the government and opposition was enough to fail any nation.

There was no need for any MPC if the opposition wanted to oust the PTI government, he observed and urged that the “drama” to topple the government and create new provinces must end now.

He said the chief minister was a powerful authority and he, Syed Murad Ali Shah, should explain what he had done for Sindh.

The PSP chief said that if the prime minister was not willing to talk to the opposition, the country was bound to witness a constitutional crisis. Though Imran Khan claimed to be a democrat, he was not ready to give up his ego and it was due to his egoistic behaviour that Pakistan was not performing, he observed.

He said that the MQM-P had ruled Karachi and Hyderabad through local bodies for four years and now it had dawned upon the MQM-P that only a separate province could help resolve problems. The Muttahida was staging rallies of 300-400 people to demand a new province, he said, adding that those who could not get power to clean gutters were talking about separate province. People wanted accountability and not a separate province, he added.

He claimed MQM-P’s rally in Hyderabad was also a flop show like that of Karachi.

Mr Kamal said the PSP did not want a new province or to divide Sindh; it would rule the entire Sindh. Neither the ‘Sindh card’ nor the ‘Mohajir card’ would work now, he said.

PSP president Anis Qaimkhani and other party leaders were also present.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2020