DADU: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader and former Sindh chief minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi on Friday led a rally of party workers in Johi to condemn “massive corruption by the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in connivance with officials of various departments and Dadu district administration”.

The rally was taken out from Betto Jatoi and marched up to Sawaro village.

He hinted that Prime Minister Imran Khan would be visiting Dadu and other areas of Sindh within a few days and was likely to announce a development package for Dadu district.

“The PPP has been plundering the provincial kitty for the last 13 years ... billions of rupees have been released for development works in Johi and other parts of Dadu district during this period but nothing has changed as people of this district are still deprived of even basic amenities,” he claimed.

Mr Jatoi said a similar situation prevailed in almost all other districts of Sindh. He said development schemes were designed and announced but they remained on paper and in files.

He also alleged that PPP legislators and unscrupulous elements within various departments and district administrations were misusing the corporate sector’s public welfare funds and embezzling the money in the name of area development. They had already misappropriated the funds allocated for water supply schemes of rural areas with the result that most people of rural Sindh did not get clean drinking water. The worst-hit areas appeared to be the Kachho belt in Dadu district, most areas of Tharparkar district and Kohistan, he added. “The PPP has not built even a single model city during its 13 years of continuous rule over Sindh,” he said.

The PTI leader pointed out that no improvement had been brought about in the condition of hospitals, educational institutions and in the law and order situation.

The poverty graph was going up and suicide trend was on the rise, he said, and deplored that farmers and growers were extremely worried due to the absence of agriculture policy.

He warned that all corrupt elements would have to face accountability very soon. “No such elements would be able to escape accountability,” he said.

Other PTI leaders including Sardar Ashiq Ali Zounr and Raees Imdad Khan Leghari also addressed the rally.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2021