KARACHI: Calling the Pakistan Peoples Party government in Sindh a ‘bandit rule’, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday announced the launching of a mass movement from Feb 26, a day before PPP’s planned long march on Islamabad.

Flanked by federal Minister for Marine Affairs Ali Haider and other party leaders at a press conference in Karachi, federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reform and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said the march would lead to the fall of the “Zardari mafia” and put the PTI in charge of the provincial government in 2023.

“There’s a simple, to-the-point agenda that we have discussed at our today’s meeting of the PTI Sindh advisory council,” he told reporters after the meeting. “Prime Minister Imran Khan is clear about this and confident that this bandit rule in Sindh should end. And for that, the PTI Sindh is going to launch a massive movement from Feb 26 to reach out to every single person in the province and unite the people against this unjust rule of corruption and bad governance.”

Asad says PM believes ‘bandit rule’ in province should end

He said PTI leaders in Sindh — including two former chief ministers, Ghaus Ali Shah and Arbab Ghulam Rahim, and former governor Mohammadmian Soomro — had agreed that the ruling party at the Centre would not let the people lose their hope.

“The PPP government has only promoted the culture of corruption, bribery and incompetence. From water supply to farmers to jobs for youngsters, every segment of life is marred by corruption,” he said.

Sharing details of the upcoming movement, Mr Zaidi, who is also president of the PTI Sindh chapter, said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi would lead the march from Ghotki on Feb 26 and it would reach Karachi the next day.

“Then on Feb 27, a huge rally will be organised in Karachi where we will tell you [the PPP provincial government] what we really want,” he said.

The PPP administration in Sindh “is not a government but a mafia”, Mr Zaidi said, adding that the key example of this “corrupt system” was the chief minister, who was actually an accountant of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and was given the role only to “serve his master”.

He also questioned PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s role as head of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights while serious violation of laws was rampant in the province under his party’s rule.

“I would raise this issue in the National Assembly and ask [Human Rights Minister] Shireen Mazari why he’s the chairman of the human rights committee after what happened to women and children in Karachi during the protest outside Chief Minister House,” he said, referring to the police’s use of force against workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan during a demonstration last week.

Senior PTI leader Ameer Bux Bhutto blamed Asif Zardari for Sindh’s backwardness and accused him of massive corruption and misappropriation of public money. He regretted that “the man who doesn’t even meet the merit of becoming a councillor” now called the shots in Sindh.

The PTI leaders and the federal ministers speaking on the occasion also blamed the Sindh government for delaying Karachi’s development schemes and cited the K-IV water supply project as an example.

“The Sindh government should be asked about its delay,” Mr Umar said in reply to a question. “But since the federal government has taken this up under its Karachi transformation plan, we are confident that 260 million gallons of water would be available for Karachi before the end of 2023.”

“And then for its fair supply and distribution, we would need a strong and empowered local government system,” he said.

The minister reiterated that the PTI government at the Centre was in favour of a strong local bodies system. He criticised the PPP government for passing a “black law” on the local government and vowed that the federal government would keep playing its role for the people of Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

The law — the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021 — did not give powers to the local government of Karachi or any other city in the province, he said and referred to a petition filed by the PTI in the Supreme Court for a system having effective, powerful and resourceful local bodies in the country and Prime Minister Imran Khan was himself one of the signatories.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2022