HYDERABAD, July 16: Mumtaz Bhutto, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, has said that if the poor law and order situation in Karachi persists, steps like governor’s rule can be taken to stem the deteriorating situation.

He said this while speaking to journalists after attending the first death anniversary of Mohammad Parwaiz Shar, son of Ayub Shar, senior vice president of the PML-N who had drowned in the Indus river. The programme was held in a hotel on Tuesday evening.

Mr Bhutto said that steps like governor’s rule could be taken to maintain law and order in Karachi as such steps had already been taken in Punjab, Balochistan and even in Sindh in the past.

He said that terrorists were ruling Karachi as no one was safe there. He said that after the 18th amendment to the Constitution, there was a significant change in affairs of the provinces, which were now autonomous. He said if the Sindh government failed to control the law and order situation, it (Sindh government) could seek the federal government’s help to stem the situation there.

He said military operations had been carried out in Karachi in the past as the military helped improve the law and order situation after carrying out an operation, later transferring powers to the civil government.

He said during the PPP’s five-year rule, 20,000 people were killed in Karachi.

He said the situation was worse in the interior of Sindh. He said that in the last six months, around 1,700 people were killed and nobody was aware of the game behind the rising killings. He said as these rulers of Sindh had failed to protect the people, they had no right to stay in power.

He said that like the people of other provinces, the people of Sindh had also rejected these rulers in the last general elections. He said people had greeted PPP leaders with rotten eggs and tomatoes during their election campaigns.

He said the PPP succeeded in Sindh because of police and polling staff’s help during the general elections.

He alleged that PPP leaders had worked for this record rigging for the previous five years. He said they made the people suffer for the last five years and again came to power with plans to loot the country even more.

He said PPP leaders had promised to arrest Benazir Bhutto’s killers, but they honoured the killers with government posts.

“Roti, kapra aur makan was snatched from poor people,” he said, adding that Sindh was rich in natural resources but its people were forced to subsist below the poverty line. He said if the people wanted to get their rights, they would have to snatch rights for themselves. He said the past rulers looted the country’s wealth and transferred it into their foreign bank accounts and now they were poised to escape the country.

Mr Bhutto said the nation should not allow these corrupt rulers to leave the country.

Answering a question about the seat of Sindh governor and president of Pakistan, he said he would follow any decision taken by his party (PML-N). “If the party decides, I will fill in the form of a porter for the sake of the party,” he said.

PML-N leaders Ayub Shar, Zain Ansari, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Bashir senior vice chairman Dr Niaz Kalani and others also spoke. Sindh United Party chief Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah and other political leaders among relatives of Ayub Shar were also present.