SUKKUR: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday warned the leadership of major opposition parties that the government “will not forgive them unless they return the looted public money”.

“Whenever the government launches [process of] accountability, the opposition starts propaganda of threat to democracy,” said Mr Khan while addressing a public gathering in Ghotki attended among others by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and leaders of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA).

“I challenge you [the opposition parties] today. Do whatever you want to do, get united or anything else. We will not spare you,” the prime minister warned.

Foreign minister sees major political change in Sindh, asks GDA to form joint strategy

However, he said: “You have only one way out. Pay back public money. Then we will leave you.”

Referring to the caravan led by Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari from Karachi to Larkana, PM Khan said the train march was not meant to benefit people, but to cover up their own corruption. The PTI had staged huge sit-ins not to conceal corruption but to demand fair elections, he said, accusing the PPP of offering money to the people joining the train march. He said it was not democracy, but corruption that was under threat.

He reiterated that the opposition parties would not be spared (from accountability) no matter how big crowds they pulled in by getting united against the government.

He also committed to ending the practice of using police for victimising political opponents and announced that he would visit Sindh more frequently.

Addressing the public meeting, which was also attended by GDA leaders including Zulfiqar Mirza, Arbab Ghulam Rahim and MPA Ali Gohar Mahar, the PM said that during the last 10 years the Sindh government had received Rs234 billion as gas royalty yet the living conditions in Ghotki, which had 70 per cent share in gas supply, did not change. The royalties should be first spent on the areas producing natural resources, he said, adding that the money supposed to be spent on people went to fake accounts. He claimed that due to corruption, the country’s debt swelled from Rs6,000 billion to Rs30,000 billion within the past 10 years.

Lauding the leadership of Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, Mr Khan said the per capita income of Malaysia surged from $1500 to $9,000 during his 17-year rule. But the corrupt leadership that replaced him put the country again under debt, he said. Similarly, he said, Pakistan once had been the fastest growing nation in Asia. Even South Korea had adopted Pakistan’s development model but then the latter went under record burden of debt, he said. He said Pakistan had to pay Rs6 billion a day as mark-up of the loans.

Mr Khan said the PTI government had launched a comprehensive poverty alleviation programme. Interest-free loans would be given to the people, besides the upcoming schemes for youth employment and women empowerment, he said.

He said Insaf Sehat Cards providing health insurance cover of Rs720,000 per family were already being distributed in different parts of the country.

The PM said Sindh should have been the most developed province considering that it was home to the country’s financial capital, with most gas reserves and fertile land. However, the rural parts of Sindh were the poorest areas in Pakistan only because of corruption, he claimed.

Qureshi asks GDA to form a joint strategy

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the party that had been a symbol of federation in the past had lost its strength in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Karachi. He said only PTI and MQM were representing Karachi, not the PPP that had shrunk to the interior of Sindh. While addressing the GDA leadership, he said it was time to form joint strategies as he could foresee a great political change in Sindh in next election owing to PPP’s failure to deliver. He hoped that the PTI and its allies would form a new government in Sindh.

Meanwhile, in a meeting with GDA leadership and parliamentarians at the residence of MPA Ali Gohar Mahar during his visit to Ghotki, Prime Minister Imran Khan discussed the overall situation in Sindh, issues concerning the PTI-led coalition partners and steps to be taken by the federal government for the welfare of the people of Sindh.

The PM said it was not the dearth of resources but corruption that dragged the people into extreme poverty. He said national institutions had been damaged in the past for personal gains while public money was transferred to personal accounts.

According to a PM Office statement, Mr Khan told the meeting that it was a joint decision of the PTI and coalition partners to expose the corruption and they had to accomplish that agenda.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2019