SUKKUR: The leaders of the Pakistan Mus­lim League-Nawaz Jacobabad chapter have accused elected representatives and leaders associated with Pakistan Peoples Party of committing Rs45 billion corruption in Jacobabad development funds from 2013 to 2018 and demanded the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) should immediately arrest those involved.

PML-N leaders Mohammad Aslam Abro, Sardar Sajjad Hussain Buledi, Akram Abro and others said at a joint press conference held in Jacobabad on Monday that the party would take out a rally in the city in favour of NAB on March 21.

They said that it was peoples’ demand to conduct investigation against massive corruption and now people were pleased on the arrival of NAB team in the city.

They said that names of the people involved in corruption had been unearthed and soon everybody would know the massive difference between the size of their property in 2000 and its exponential growth within seven years.

They were certain PPP’s elected public representatives would be disqualified on charges of corruption and all four seats in Jacobabad would fall in their lap in upcoming general election.

They said that people were 100 per cent certain that PPP men were involved in large-scale corruption because there was no mention of the funds meant for development of the city which had turned into ruins over the past 10 years.

They said that a large number of people were suffering from hepatitis in Jacobabad but they were not being provided vaccines and drugs. In spite of the fact that health was a provincial subject, the federal government had issued health cards for poor people of Jacobabad to enable them to get quality healthcare, they said.

They said that corruption had destroyed educational institutions and government hospitals. The Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences in whose establishment Muhammadmian Soomro played an important role was not being run in an adequate manner. An honest officer who headed the institute earlier had been transferred and replaced with a corrupt one, they alleged.

They said the water supply scheme built at a cost of Rs1.5bn was also destroyed by PPP men, compounding problems for citizens of Jacobabad.

They claimed that PPP leaders had recruited criminals in police department to use them for safeguarding their interests.

They, therefore, did not bear with honest officers in case someone was posted without their consent, they said.

They said that huge corruption was made in the construction work of stadium and park in Garhi Khero and demanded NAB should investigate it. A large portion of relief goods meant for flood-affected people was occupied by influential waderas who stashed it away in their personal storages, they said.

They said that monthly budget of municipal committee of Garhi Khero was Rs9 million, still municipal employees had not been paid salary for past six months.

They said that Rs350m which were given to PPP MPA Mir Aurangzeb Panhwar for carrying out development work had disappeared. NAB should investigate it too, they said.

They said that Muhammadmian Soomro would decide who would contest election for PS-1 from Muhammad Aslam Abro and Sardar Sakhi Abdul Razzak Khoso.

PPP Jacobabad president Mir Liaqat Lashari dismissed PML-N leaders’ statement as “a set of baseless allegations” and said that investigation should be launched into assets of all political leaders.

He said that PML-N leaders were afraid of popularity of PPP. Recently, general secretary of PTI Babu Abdul Qadir Buriro, Sardar Saddam Hussain Buriro and Sardar Ahmed Ali Channa had joined the PPP, which was proof of the party’s timeless attraction among masses, he said.

He said that all development schemes had been completed after the chief minister had allocated Rs1bn under annual development programme.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2018