July 20, 2008	Sunday	Rajab 16, 1429

KARACHI, July 19: The Pakistan People’s Party hit back at the opposition at a hastily called press conference on Saturday, with senior minister and PPP’s parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly Pir Mazharul Haq assailing opposition leader Jam Madad Ali and his associates, after the former had criticised the Sindh government’s 100-day performance at a press briefing on Friday.

Pir Mazhar was accompanied by Population Welfare Minister Jam Mehtab and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ayaz Soomro.

The briefing, held in one of the committee rooms of the Sindh Assembly, seemed to be heavy on rhetoric and light on concrete rebuttals, with the PPP ministers mostly regurgitating the facts and figures Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had quoted when he addressed the media on July 15.

“The opposition is dreaming of power. It is a good thing they have shed light on the smooth working of the Sindh Assembly so far. Those who grew up in the lap of dictatorship do not want this government to function. We want to work. We do not want to indulge in mudslinging. Criticism is their right, but they should not make 100 days sound like 100 years,” said Pir Mazhar.

Referring to the opposition’s contention that the PPP was a house divided, the Pir rubbished this assertion and said “they themselves are in disarray. There is infighting over who should be opposition leader. It was first suggested that Arbab Rahim should get the slot. After he ran away, the post went to Jam Madad. Now Arif Jatoi is eyeing the slot.”

The Pir claimed the PPP had even buried the hatchet with its traditional rivals, saying that the current power-sharing formula with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement would have been “next to impossible” if it was not for the party’s policy of reconciliation.

Saying that “hidden hands” wanted to derail the process, Pir Mazhar said he did not want to repeat what the chief minister had stated during his briefing, but just wanted to share some figures with the media for the record.

He said the government wanted the accountability of the past 11 years, adding that out of the 15,000 schools that had been shut down during this period, the government had reopened 200 schools. He said that retired army-men had been inducted in government departments while through the contract system, people were being re-hired while youths remained jobless in the last set-up.

Pir Mazhar said 100,000 youths would be trained and given job placement, and asked the press corps: “should we be criticised for this?”

As for the law and order situation, the senior minister held up Shikarpur and Lyari as examples of where the government’s writ had been re-established and criminal elements had been neutralized.

‘Tidal wave of inflation’

Singing a familiar tune, Pir Mazhar said the “tidal wave of inflation” had been caused by the previous government’s “artificial” economic policies, while the situation had been compounded by global food inflation and the galloping price of oil in the international market.

Referring to the July 7 serial bombings in Karachi, which were supposedly designed to stoke ethnic violence, Pir Mazhar said that if it wasn’t for the coordination between the PPP, MQM and Awami National Party, “rivers of blood” would have flowed in the city.

“We don’t want to get defensive, but this is the requirement of politics,” said the Pir, justifying Saturday’s press conference.

Jam Mehtab said 60,000 vacancies would be filled in different departments, adding that “due to the power-drunk attitude of the opposition when they were in power, the poor were neglected.”

Saying that “the opposition’s facts and figures are laughable,” Jam Mehtab invited Jam Madad Ali to compare figures of their respective governments. “We want to ask them how the assembly was run during their rule and how it is being run now.”

Slamming the opposition’s “unproven allegations,” Ayaz Soomro urged Jam Madad to “put your own house in order.”

The law minister pointed out that during the last government, when Jam Madad was chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, he had only held four meetings of the committee in five years. “We would like to ask why the food ministry was taken away from Arif Jatoi ,” Mr Soomro added.

Calling Jam Madad the “political successor of Jam Sadiq Ali,” Ayaz Soomro said the government does not have a magic wand to solve the province’s problems overnight.

He added that many of the people against whom FIRs had been lodged – who the opposition claims are victims of a political witch-hunt – are in fact “dacoits and drug smugglers.”