KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf vice president Ghulam Sarwer Khan has said that Karachi, the economic hub of the country, could not make progress because of corruption and plundering by the rulers.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Monday, he said the city which was on the road to development 40 years ago and where princes from the Middle East enjoyed their holidays had been pushed to backwardness so much so that instead of attracting foreigners its own citizens travelled to Dubai and Malaysia for recreation.

The PTI leader said that Karachi which is known as mini-Pakistan today presented a look of a devastated city where roads with garbage dumps and sewerage water flowing from gutters are seen everywhere.

He accused the ‘Zardari League’ of plundering resources of Sindh.

He said it appeared that the rulers did not consider Sindh a part of Pakistan because there were no proper education and health systems and medical care was extremely poor.

Party will take out a rally on Wednesday from Hyderabad to CM House in Karachi in support of sugar cane growers

Mr Khan said the condition of Sindh continued to be deteriorated for want of right leadership. Pakistan Steel Mills, which was making profit until 2008, went into losses when the PPP was in power after 2008. The champions of democracy, under the cover of slogan of democracy, had harmed the country and its institutions, he said.

Now the Sharif brothers had determined to turn the conditions of Punjab like that of Sindh, he said, adding that the PTI from day one had been pleading the country could not progress without getting rid of corrupt rulers.

He said that it was a big achievement of Imran Khan that he got the corrupt ruler disqualified through arduous struggle.

The PTI leader said it was unfortunate that the nation had been electing such leadership whose aim was corruption and plunder of the resources in the name of democracy.

He demanded holding of elections before its scheduled time, but said even if the elections were held on time, the PTI would emerge as the largest party in all the four provinces and a majority party in the federation.

PTI leaders MNA Sajid Nawaz Khan and other local leaders Ilyas Shaikh, Tahir Malik, Dawa Khan Sabir were also present at the press conference.

Sindh Assembly

PTI parliamentary party leader in the Sindh Assembly Khurram Sherzaman has said that the PPP had spent Rs1,800 billion during 10 years of its rule in Sindh but there was no improvement in the life of the people of the province nor any change was visible.

Addressing a press conference, along with the party MPAs Samar Ali Khan and Dr Seema Zia, at the Sindh Assembly Committee Room on Monday, Mr Sherzaman said political opponents were being framed in false and concocted cases in the province.

He said Asif Zardari and his close associates owned 19 sugar mills in Sindh and they were not ready to pay the sugarcane rates fixed by the government to the farmers.

He announced that his party would take out a rally on January 3 from Hyderabad to the chief minister’s house in Karachi in support of the growers.

He demanded publication of Nisar Morai’s JIT report and said that in the 2018 elections people had to get rid of the PPP.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2018