KARACHI: The city chapter of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Sunday criticised performance of the Pakistan Peoples Party government and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and called upon imposition of governor’s rule on the province for a period of six months.

Speaking at a press conference at the party’s Insaf House headquarters here, PTI-Karachi president MPA Khurram Sher Zaman warned that if the PPP did not bring change in Sindh then “we will work on how change can be brought”.

He said that since the PPP government in Sindh had failed on every front, “we appeal to the prime minister to think about the people of Sindh ... PPP is exploiting the people of the province”.

He said governor’s rule should be imposed for six months on Sindh and “PTI will show them working in these six months”.

‘18th Amendment not allowing issuance of health cards in Sindh’

Accompanied by other senior party leaders, he said that the province faced serious damage because of the 18th Constitutional Amendment as the only person who benefited from this legislation was former president Asif Ali Zardari.

He said that the lives of the people of Sindh had become worst during the 13-year rule of the PPP.

Demand to remove CM

He said CM Shah in his pre-budget speech in the Sindh Assembly did not speak for the betterment of the people or about water, education and health.

He said Mr Shah was a failed chief minister of the province and “we demand his removal from the office”.

“We were waiting for the chief minister to come up with a proposal in the house. Murad Ali Shah did not say anything about the Orange Line, just said that they will run it before the Green Line [bus rapid transit scheme]. There is no transport facility for the people of Karachi. We were waiting for a word on allotment of land to build graveyards. We waited for Murad Ali Shah to tell us where the development budget has been spent,” he said.

His tirade against the CM continued when he termed Mr Shah a blue-eyed of Mr Zardari and said he remained silent on the issues of street crimes, law and order, corruption and granting of postings to “NAB-tainted” officers.

Criticising Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, who is aunt of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Mr Sher Zaman said that it appeared that no one was ready to question her performance but the PTI would not stay silent.

He said the CM did not have plans for hospitals, which were being run by non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

He said that CM Shah spent 45 minutes in criticising Prime Minister Imran Khan from the floor of the house. “Murad Ali Shah does not see any good in Imran Khan despite the fact that the country’s system has improved and the whole world is praising him,” he said.

He claimed that the popularity of the prime minister was on a rise. “Health cards are being issued in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab today, but we are helpless because of the 18th Amendment. The provincial government is not allowing the people of Sindh to get health cards,” he alleged.

Ali Zaidi gets Covid-19 jab

Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi of the PTI visited Khalaqdina Hall on Sunday to get his first Covid-19 jab.

He also inspected the arrangements made for the public and exchanged views with those who came to get the vaccine.

He said that the Sindh government, like other provinces, should directly procure vaccine as the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) did not impose any restrictions on provinces in this regard.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2021