Amid the changing political atmosphere with a long march, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday berated PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for the lingering issues in his party-led Sindh province despite remaining in the power for the last 15 years.
“I have heard, Bilawal is coming to Islamabad from Karachi to take note of PTI’s three years of rule. We are ready for accountability. But, I am here asking about your 15 years of rule in Sindh. You have had the highest offices with you and still, the province’s status did not change,” he said while addressing a public gathering in Shikarpur as part of the PTI’s ‘Sindh Huqooq March’.
PTI began its Ghotki-Karachi protest against the PPP-led provincial government on Saturday. The protest, which is led by Qureshi and PTI Sindh President Ali Zaidi, started from Ghotki’s Kamoo Shaheed near the Sindh-Punjab border.
Qureshi, who is also the PTI’s vice chairman, added that the PPP chairman should offer his accountability to the people over the prevailing issues in Sindh – including Karachi – like street crimes, cleanliness, and old sewerage system. He expressed the hope that the scion of the Bhutto dynasty would answer such issues as the latter would be posed with similar questions in Punjab also.
“We are not going to panic,” he said in reaction to the PPP’s long march, which started on Sunday from Karachi. The protest would culminate in Islamabad with a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan in parliament.
“If I was panicked I would not have thrown my resignation at your father [Asif Ali Zardari]’s face,” FM Qureshi said.
Moreover, he castigated the PPP for not allowing the people to avail the government’s flagship programme of the health card. “Why you [PPP] are depriving the people of Sindh of this facility,” he said.
In an apparent reference to former president Zardari and other PPP leaders, he accused them of hoarding urea and sugar and taking benefits.
He also alleged that the PPP workers were given an 11-day package with a remuneration of Rs30,000 to participate in the rally. “Bilawal why are you looting Sindh treasure,” he said, adding that the province’s people wanted to know.
“Today’s ideological workers are not part of PPP. Today’s PPP has been shifted from Bhutto to Zardari,” he said, “Let’s fight against those who ruled Sindh for 15 years and used its resources.”
He added that the PTI was in Sindh to join people rather than dividing them and called for “breaking the arrow [PPP’s election symbol]” to have unity among the people’s ranks.
FM Qureshi also blasted the people who criticised him for not having a relation to Sindh. “I have 800 years of relation with Sindh, what is your timeline of ties with Sindh. My forefathers were here with Sindhi ajrak and topi for the last 800 years.”
FM Qureshi also warned Indian PM Narendra Modi of making any misadventures in a message on the third anniversary of Operation Swift – conducted on February 27, 2019 – which resulted in the downing of two Indian planes that had violated Pakistani airspace.
“Today Pakistan has a PM who is not afraid of your [PM Modi] words. Think before seeing Pakistan as today there is not that leader who gifted you sari,” he said.
