LAHORE: PML-N President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif has hit out at Prime Minister Imran Khan for bracketing the opposition with India on FATF legislation.

“The allegation that India and the opposition agenda is the same is made by the man who was eager to talk to Indian premier Modi but he refused to take his telephone calls. When Modi revoked the Kashmir’s special status it was the opposition who raised this issue effectively and the Imran Khan government was sleeping over it,” Mr Sharif said on Thursday while talking to reporters here on his return from one-day visit to Karachi where he had gone to express solidarity with the rain-affected people.

He criticised Imran Khan for not playing his part in mitigating the problems of the people of Karachi during devastating rains. “It is terrible to see Karachi being ignored by the federal government,” he said, regretting the federal government did politics on devastating rains.

“PM Khan should have sat with the Sindh government to work together for those affected by rains and flood.”He said PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif and he had directed party office-bearers and workers to leave no stone unturned for the help of the people of Karachi during these testing times. Similarly, direction was also passed to the party’s KP organization, he said.

“Karachi has been devastated by floods but Imran Khan did not care to visit the affected people. The federal government used the misery of Karachites only for political point scoring and lip-service. The people across Pakistan must be helped instead of being left at the mercy of floods and their aftermath.”

Flanked by Marriyum Aurangzeb and Rana Mashhood, Shahbaz Sharif said during his visit to Karachi he met the rain-affected people and met the families of the children who died due to the torrential rains. He said it was his duty to express solidarity with the people of Karachi and shared the sorrow and grief of their losses.

The PML-N leader said the Sindh government was doing all it could but the federal government had only used this disaster for political point scoring and had done nothing practical to help those hit by urban-flooding.

“Had Nawaz Sharif been the prime minister, he would have stayed in Karachi to help the people in every which way he could,” he said and added that the scale of devastation in Karachi was immense with roads and basic life completely ravaged, but Imran Khan Niazi had not bothered to visit Karachi to help the people.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2020