SUKKUR: Senior Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians (PPP-P) leader and former leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah has said that his character and political career were like an open book and nothing could be a cause of fear to him.

He was apparently referring to the media reports about a corruption investigation being initiated into his alleged amassing of fortunes beyond his known sources of income.

“I don’t want to indulge myself in speculations unnecessarily,” he told a group of reporters during his visit to the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) here late on Friday evening. “Nothing could cause me to fear anything; except for accountability by Almighty Allah,” he said.

He said those who thought he had become rich by way of politics and connections were mistaken as he had been in politics for three decades and had been winning elections.

He said that he also held various portfolios but no scandal involving him had ever emerged.

Khursheed Shah said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after preparing a reference against him was bound to end up in sheer disappointment.

Commenting on the poor state of the national economy, he said that poverty alleviation in the country was impossible until the national economy was streamlined on sound footings. However, he claimed the present government was not competent enough to chalk out such an economic policy. He was critical of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s team, and said “his [cabinet] colleagues may bring down his government within the next six months or so”.

Mr Shah avoided making any comment on Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid’s recent statements, saying he would not talk about him because he was currently visiting his native city [Sukkur].

Regarding the federal government’s ‘five million houses’ scheme, the PPP-P leader said he did not see this plan materialising.

“The proponents and executers of the scheme are wasting their own and others’ time,” he remarked.

Mr Shah repeated his party’s allegation that the prime minister was holding meetings with the NAB chairman in the backdrop of the bureau’s references against the government’s opponents. “NAB’s recent actions against opposition figures are creating suspicion about intentions of the PM and NAB,” he said.

“I would advise NAB not to take emotional decisions or act in a hurry; the NAB chief should assess cases with a cool mind and then take fair decisions as to what should be done and what should not be done; what is being done is wrong,” he said.

About the Sukkur branch of SIUT, Mr Shah pointed out that it was established with the cooperation of the provincial government. Free of cost treatment was being provided to kidney patients here and for the first time in the history of Sindh, kidney transplant was being offered in Sukkur by this branch, he added.

He noted that 50 more beds had been made available at this institute. He made mention of a philanthropist, Feroza Hashim, a Pakistan-born national of the UK, who provided considerable funds for the Sukkur SIUT.

He said that development work at the institute was in full swing with a cost of Rs5-6 billion. He said one block would be completed by June 2019 and in the first phase, the dialysis facility would be available here for around 300 patients.

In reply to a question about the recent remarks against the army by former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nehal Hashmi, Khursheed Shah said he disagreed with the views.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2018