ISLAMABAD: Apparently in a bid to strengthen the anti-PPP camp in the province, Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry will travel to Sindh on Monday and hold discussions with senior political leaders there, but the prominent Jatoi family has not been contacted by any leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) or the federal government.

Mr Chaudhry is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday morning before proceeding to Sindh the same day.

Talking to Dawn, he said that the prime focus of his visit was to discuss the post-JIT report situation with political leaders of interior Sindh, including Awami Tehreek chief Ayaz Latif Palijo and Grand Democratic Alliance leaders.

The schedule of the meetings would be made by the governor of Sindh.

Mr Chaudhry will also meet Muttahida Qaumi Movement leaders and express his condolences on the killing of its leader Ali Raza Abidi.

Sources close to the information minister told the media here that the purpose of the visit was to take into confidence top political leaders of Sindh regarding the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report on fake bank accounts that has targeted the leadership of the Pakistan People Party.

The sources said that the information minister had been given the special task by Prime Minister Khan related to the political set-up in Sindh.

It is expected that Mr Chaudhry will persuade the political players in the province to support the demand jointly made by MPAs belonging to the GDA and the PTI for resignation of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.

The sources said that in the first phase the information minister would meet anti-PPP leaders like Zulfiqar Mirza, whose son Hasnain Mirza is an MPA, and Ameer Bukhsh Bhutto, son of Mumtaz Bhutto.

However, the spokesman for former federal minister Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi said that the Jatoi family had not been contacted over the move by the federal government. “Murtaza Jatoi is the head of family and support to any move from this family has to come through him. We know about the information minister’s coming visit but nobody has contacted him till now,” the spokesman added.

Mr Chaudhry would also meet some other political leaders to take them into confidence on the JIT report on the fake accounts case, sources said.

The JIT report recently submitted to the Supreme Court in the fake accounts case held the top PPP leaders, including Asif Zardari, and the Omni Group of Companies responsible for massive money laundering through fake accounts.

Around 29 bank accounts have been identified as fake which were used for money laundering of Rs42 billion.

On the basis of the JIT report, the government has placed the names of all 172 persons identified in the report on the Exit Control List.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2018