DADU: Sindh United Party (SUP) chairman Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah has said that the federal government released around Rs1,000 billion to the Sindh government over the past 10 years but the ruling party misappropriated the funds.

He said that it was the height of corruption in the name of politics, public service and people’s welfare.

Mr Shah was speaking at a gathering of party activists organised by SUP general secretary Roshan Ali Buriro in Bhan Syedabad town of Sehwan taluka on Tuesday. A large number of SUP workers and citizens participated in the event.

He said Sindh had gone back to the Stone Age due to neglect on the part of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) that ruled over it for more than a decade.

Despite the bad governance in Sindh, SUP would urge the federal government to release the development funds and Sindh’s share in the divisible pool and under the National Finance Commission Award to the province, he said, arguing that holding up Sindh’s funds would ultimately cause sufferings to its people.

Mr Shah said if Rs150bn was released to Punjab then at least Rs50bn should be released to Sindh.

The SUP chief said it was due to paucity of clean water for drinking and others issues that the people of Sindh had been suffering from various fatal diseases. The Sindh government had failed to check the diseases, he claimed.

He said the people of Sindh had been left at the mercy of PPP’s corrupt rulers. Local police in Sehwan was politically victimising SUP activists and fake cases were lodged against SUP local leader Fida Hussain and his relatives.

He said the law and order situation would worsen in future when powers of transfers and postings of SSPs and other senior officers would be handed over to the Sindh chief minister.

He said PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was opposing the ‘One Unit’ while his elders supported it in the past.

Roshan Buriro said Rs35bn were released to Sehwan taluka only in the past 12 years, but people and animals were drinking dirty water of ponds and drains so far. He said 150,000 bags of wheat were embezzled and sold by food officers from godowns and centres of food department in Sehwan taluka of Jamshoro district.

Other SUP leaders including Mir Maula Bux Leghari and Dr Abdul Hameed Rajput also spoke.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2019