SUKKUR: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah on Monday criticised the federal government for its helplessness in tackling the issue of crippling blockade of roads in Islamabad by protesting supporters of a religious outfit and remarked: “If it is unable to establish its writ even in an area which is capital of the country, it should go home.”

Mr Shah was speaking to the media after inaugurating a computer lab and video link system at the Govt Elementary College for Women in Sukkur.

He observed that a few hundred people had been occupying thoroughfares of Islamabad for a couple of weeks but the government appeared unable to persuade them to clear the area although the blockade had crippled the capital and functioning of government affairs, besides causing great hardship to members of the general public, functionaries of foreign missions and foreign visitors.

Pours scorn over GDA, claiming alliance will vanish after elections

“The government’s helplessness is quite visible as the sit-in is continuing despite a court order having been passed against it ... the government has lost its writ which is evident from the fact that it could not exercise its constitutional powers to resolve the issue,” he argued. Commenting on the strategy adopted by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Nawaz Sharif to deal with corruption scams involving the Sharif family and some party colleagues, the senior PPP leader said that the ousted premier should have accepted the SC verdict and adopted constitutional ways for his and his party’s political survival. “If he continued with his unwise strategy, he will suffer further,” added Mr Shah.

Reiterating the Pakistan Peoples Party’s position vis-a-vis the situation being faced by the government, he said: “We believe in democracy and want the parliament to complete its constitutional term”. He said accountability must be indiscriminate.

Expressing his views about prospects for Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in future politics, Khursheed Shah said that the party’s performance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was before the masses to judge its capabilities.

In the same context, he said the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) showed up only in the election season. “The people of Sindh know very well that such so-called alliances vanish after elections,” he said, adding that no power on earth could alienate PPP voters and their beloved party. “The relationship is strong, unbreakable and deep-rooted,” he said.

In reply to a question, Mr Shah said there was no threat to democracy in the country. However, he expressed his concern over the federal government’s position. “As a state within the state cannot be tolerated, a government within a government cannot also function well,” he remarked.

Mr Shah said Nawaz Sharif should better take his case to the court of the people instead of going for a confrontation with institutions. He observed that politicians defamed politics by telling lies, and said politics means serving people and speaking truth.

Earlier, the opposition leader inaugurated the lab and video link system at the Govt Elementary College for Women. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, he said every person is born with abilities and it was for the state to explore, polish and benefit from them. “Unfortunately, it’s our rulers who lack the ability to do so,” he observed.

He said the main cause of unemployment in Pakistan was illiteracy. He noted that educational institutions in Sukkur alone ran short of around 1,700 teaching and non-teaching staff while most schools in the rural areas of this district lacked essential facilities.

He said female students in our country were more talented than their male counterparts, and urged teachers to play their due role in educating them as the first place for a child to learn was mother’s lap. Therefore, he said, every mother should be well-educated and well-mannered so that our society could be transformed into an educated one.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2017