LAHORE: A Sindh government minister from the PPP has termed the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) a party of fraudsters and not politicians.

“The PTI is not a party of politicians. It is a group of fraudsters and swindlers,” said Saeed Ghani here on Tuesday. He was speaking to reporters outside the PML-N’s Model Town secretariat where he along with a delegation of party leaders had gone to condole with Shehbaz Sharif on the demise of his mother.

Referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s repeated allegations that the opposition leaders were corrupt and attempting to pressurise the government through their protests for seeking relief in accountability cases, Mr Ghani said a person whose sister and various party leaders availed the NRO (a term used to refer to relief in corruption cases) was calling his rivals thieves.

Saeed Ghani says Lahore gathering to have ‘historic participation’ of people

The minister claimed that thousands of people participated in the Multan rally of the opposition alliance despite the government closing almost all routes and roads leading to the demonstration venue. He added that the masses would not step back now in the face of the government’s oppression and the next anti-government rally would be held in Lahore on Dec 13 with a historic participation. Mr Ghani warned the government against repeating the tactics it used in Multan to sabotage the Lahore rally.

Responding to a query, he said Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari was very much interested in active politics and her address in Multan was not the last one, but she would appear in future political gatherings as well.

Nasir Hussain Shah, another Sindh cabinet minister, said people were joining rallies of the opposition only because of the poor governance of the government. He criticised the federal ministers for persuading the opposition to postpone their protest meetings on the pretext of coronavirus, while the ruling party itself was holding public gatherings.

“Coronavirus or NAB (National Accountability Bureau) appears only in the meetings organised by the opposition, while the government is free to gather crowds anywhere without observing Covid-19 [standard operating procedures].”

PPP Punjab Information Secretary Hassan Murtaza regretted that party workers picked up by police to stop them from attending the Multan rally were being lodged in prisons against the directions issued by the Lahore High Court Multan bench.

Calling arrests and imprisonment dictatorial tactics, he advised the government against violating court directions. He cautioned that if the PPP workers faced any inconvenience the situation could worsen and only the government would be responsible for it.

Mr Murtaza was of the view that what the rulers saw in Multan was just a trailer, while the actual anti-government show was yet to be staged.

Other politicians who called on Shehbaz included Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Masood Khan, Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwala, Balochistan National Party-Mengal head Sardar Akhtar Mengal, former Punjab governor Mian Azhar and Lord Nazir from the UK.

PML-N leaders Muhammad Mehdi and Rana Mashhood also met the party president and offered their condolences.

Meanwhile, Mr Mandviwala also met Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and inquired after Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. Both leaders also exchanged views on the country’s political situation.

Author and columnist Dr AR Khalid also called on Mr Elahi.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2020