MITHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that the rulers have forfeited the right to rule the country as they have utterly failed to defend Pakistan on the diplomatic front.

The verdict of the Panamagate case would prove disastrous for the ‘monarchs’ and those who had siphoned off national wealth to foreign countries because they would have to taste ‘punishment’ as per laws of the land, he said.

Mr Qureshi was speaking to large public gatherings of his disciples in his capacity as spiritual head of the Ghausia Jamaat in different villages of Chhachhro and Khensar talukas on Monday.

He held the Sindh government responsible for the unending misery the people of Thar were subjected to. Callous and indifferent attitude of rulers, who were busy plundering national resources, had further exacerbated the situation, he said.

He said the Sindh government’s functionaries had plundered huge amounts of funds meant for carrying out development schemes in Thar. All those involved in corruption would soon be brought to book, he said.

He said that he put his weight behind the establishment of military courts after having witnessed government failure in eliminating the menace of terrorism from the country. The compensation announced by the Sindh government for the Sehwan blast victims was inadequate, he added.

Mr Qureshi observed that if the government had implemented the National Action Plan the situation would have been different today. The federal government was responsible for the mess the country was in today, he said.

On the one hand, he said, the government was relying on Thar coal deposits to overcome energy crisis while on the other hunger and starvation was forcing people of the area to end their lives by throwing themselves into wells.

He said that people in Thar were forced to drink contaminated water of wells despite allocation of billions of rupees for water supply schemes for the area. “Thar needs a comprehensive and structural overhaul to bring it at par with the developed areas of the country but the rulers are not serious in providing even the most basic facilities like healthcare and drinking water to Thar,” he said and asked the gathering to reject all ‘tried and tested’ faces and vote for sincere candidates in the next general elections.

From henceforth, he said, the rulers would not be allowed to rig elections in their favour with the help of returning officers and deputy returning officers.

Mr Qureshi warned coal mining firms to ‘mend their ways’ and allay fears of locals with regard to facilities and environmental degradation. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would benefit people only when they were given jobs in the project, he said.

He said that PTI and its chief Imran Khan were struggling to rid people of the rotten system and bring a qualitative change in their lives.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2017