KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Monday announced that it would not “allow” a complete lockdown in Sindh and demanded that the federal government take over the administration of the PPP-governed province since it failed in all areas of management, which was causing the fast spread of coronavirus.

Leaders of the key opposition party in the province vowed to resist any move from the provincial government against the people of Sindh.

City president of the PTI and MPA Khurram Sher Zaman along with other party leaders told a press conference at Insaf House that Sindh was “totally devastated” during PPP rule.

“This is our province and we will take care of it,” he said. “We will not allow the Sindh government to go for a complete lockdown. Where is the development budget of Sindh? They are begging for more and more from the federal government. We ask the federal government to take over the management of Sindh. The situation is deteriorating day by day. Bilawal Zardari is oppressing the people of Sindh.”

Says Sindh govt declared a KU facility as its DNA testing project to ‘mislead’ people

MPAs Dr Seema Zia, Dr Imran Ali Shah, Dr Sanjay Gangwani, Rabistan Khan and others were also present.

Mr Zaman said that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari should visit hospitals in this situation and take account of ground realities.

‘Corruption everywhere’

“There is corruption in every department of Sindh. The incompetence has become a norm and people without required skills have been made heads of every department,” he added. “The people of Sindh are crying for relief. We request the prime minister to take a step for the people of Sindh. Today, our doctors are also suffering because of poor health system in the province.”

He wondered why during the more than 12-year rule in the province the PPP government had not been able to set up a single modern laboratory which could carry out DNA tests.

To “mislead” the people, he said, the Sindh government declared the facility at the University of Karachi as its project.

“On one hand, the Sindh government has been unable to build capacity of the hospitals and on the other it has failed to provide security to those working to some extent. Security should be provided to the hospitals. The Sindh government is playing dirty politics in the name of coronavirus,” he said. He also “appealed” to the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the construction of private hospitals on amenity plots in the province.

He also criticised the Sindh government for failing in implementation of an effective lockdown.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Seema Zia said that the government had recruited “an army of scoundrels” in government institutions.

That’s the reason, she said, even after three months the call centre for coronavirus could not be set up.

Dr Shah of the PTI said that there was no facility at the Civil Hospital Karachi, both for patients and health workers, and there was no plan for the protection of doctors anywhere in the province.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2020