HYDERABAD: The Sindh organiser of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Dr Arif Alvi, has blamed over a thousand deaths from heatwave on bad governance in Sindh “where corruption rules the roost and the system teeters on the brink of collapse”.

Dr Alvi, who is visiting different parts of the province to organise the party ahead of local bodies election, said at a press conference at the Hyderabad Press Club on Sunday that he had received first-hand knowledge during the past three weeks he was visiting the interior of the province that all institutions of government stood destroyed.

The institutions had completely lost the will and the capability to resolve people’s problems because the officials were interested only in corruption. He could state under oath that Sindh was the most corrupt province in the country, he said.

He cited an example of corruption saying Larkana was given Rs60 to Rs70 billion over the past four to five years in the name of special packages but all the money was siphoned off to Dubai through launches and models.

He accused both PPP and MQM of selling jobs instead of serving masses and said that 1,500 jobs were sold in Tando Ghulam Hyder in one day and so in Qasimabad and Hyderabad rural talukas.

Dr Alvi said that people should directly link the rate of rising hunger and poverty in society with the business empires being established abroad by their unscrupulous leaders.

He said that Karachi faced acute shortage of water where a water tanker was being sold for Rs10,000 to Rs15,000 but no one was ready to take responsibility.

It was so sad people were dying from heatstroke, he said, adding the government should have moved into action when the first news of deaths of six people from heat was aired.

On the one hand, there was extreme heat exacerbated by prolonged loadshedding while on the other people were destined to consume brackish and contaminated water to get respite from heat, which only worsened their condition and caused unprecedented number of deaths, he said.

He slammed the federal government for backing out of its commitment to avoid loadshedding during Sahr and Iftar timings.

He said that PPP leadership delivered speeches against gas cess in the National Assembly but then voted in favour of it. Z.A. Bhutto was not corrupt while present PPP leaders were corrupt to the core, he said.

Dr Alvi supported the powers given to FIA to keep the accused in custody for 90 days for interrogation and said the BBC report had levelled some serious allegations which carried weight and must be looked into.

He said the PTI had submitted objections over delimitations and the party was being organised at district, union council and ward level.

NAWABSHAH: Dr Alvi has said the PTI will field candidates in every ward and town in the local bodies elections in Sindh.

Talking to party workers and supporters here on Sunday, he said that Asif Ali Zardari was not loyal to his own party and workers. People of Sindh voted Zardari in the name of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto but got nothing in return, he said.

He said that people were being deprived of their basic rights and there was corruption, joblessness, lawlessness and poverty throughout the province. He said that PTI would end injustice in Sindh and provide all facilities and rights to people.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2015

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