HYDERABAD: Pakistan People Party (PPP) information secretary Senator Moula Bux Chandio has said that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government would now keep creating crises in order to escape.

He was speaking at a press conference at his residence here on Sunday.

He said that Pakistan was faced with a serious crisis while PTI ministers termed their prime minister a humble person.

Referring to the resignation of former finance minister Asad Umer, he said that his resignation came on the heels of tall claims of economic development by the prime minister and his government. Mr Chandio said the situation also showed that the PM had been lying before the nation about the country’s economic progress over the last nine months. “He [PM] should also resign for telling lies to people,” he argued.

He observed that some PTI people had already been sent packing and some others would also be sent home; a entirely new lot would be seen in the government.

About appointment of Dr Hafeez Shaikh as PM’s adviser on finance, the senior PPP leader said that PM should better stop criticising PPP’s economic policies now after choosing PPP’s finance minister. Similarly, he said, Firdaus Ashiq Awan, a former PPP minister, had now been inducted as PM’s special assistant on information.

“At least six persons who had been with the PPP in the past have now been inducted in PTI federal cabinet. But problem will not be resolved with such inductions unless you bring our PM to put things on right track,” he remarked.

‘Conflicting’ views of PTI people

Mr Chandio said that the PM had asked his new team to bring about economic turnaround. But, he added, what the PM was talking about had been contradicted by the federal interior minister. He also quoted Ms Awan as having said that “unless charges are proved against [PPP co-chairman] Asif Zardari, nothing could be said about him”. He said that views of the PM and his ministers appeared quite conflicting.

Mr Chandio said that those ministers who had been sent packing were not delivering as per PM’s own statement. Nothing good could be expected from the present government as well, he added.

He said that, in fact, PTI’s economic policies had collapsed and PTI was actually emulating PPP’s decisions.

He pointed out that a man against whom the PPP had serious reservations had now been inducted as a federal minister who, he alleged, had started intimidating PPP. He reminded the minister that PPP had emerged stronger with new leadership.

Mr Chandio said PM should avoid hurling accusations if he did not have evidence. He likened the PM’s statement asking opposition leadership to return money and leave as a kind of NRO. He said that PPP was in no way perturbed. He claimed that the PTI government wanted a escape route but PPP would not let it flee.

The PPP leader hoped that PM’s aide on information [Ms Awan] would avoid the language that was the hallmark of her predecessor.

He said today the opposition had raised the demand of fresh polls and probably this demand might be accepted. Switching over to the presidential system would lead to chaotic conditions, he warned, and said it [the system] would in no way be accepted.He said that if things did not change, then PM would have to go.

He also noted that the federal law minister was advising the PM to intervene in Sindh. “The law minister is in fact following the ideology of his Quaid whom he has betrayed,” Mr Chandio remarked.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2019