KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Monday rejected the allegations of the Sindh government that Islamabad was not giving shares and assets of the Workers Welfare Fund and Employees Old-age Benefits Institutions (EOBI) saying it was the “incompetence” of the Pakistan Peoples Party government in the province which failed to sort out the years-old issue despite being in power for more than a decade.

Speaking at a press conference at the party’s Insaf House office, Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi questioned the statement of Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani in which he slammed the “illegal and unconstitutional seizure of the EOBI and Workers Welfare Fund by the federal government” and said that the PPP minister was misleading the people only for political point-scoring.

Naqvi says federal govt only asked FBR to collect taxes from interprovincial agencies

“It’s a typical example of dirty politics to put blame of their own incompetence and failure on the federal government,” he said.

“The PPP has done nothing but make excuses in its 13-year rule in the province. It has turned the party into Zardari league, which misleads people in the name of democracy and provincial autonomy. The people are waiting for the promises made by the PPP to be fulfilled.”

Centre’s letter to FBR

He explained that the federation wrote a letter asking the Federal Board of Revenue to collect taxes from the agencies that operate inter-provincially. “Such a simple thing is not understood by a minister. All formalities on part of the federal government are already done. The people of Sindh have not been able to avail the benefits of these institutions [EOBI and Workers Welfare Fund] only due to incompetence of the Sindh government.”

He expressed surprise over “intellect and understanding” of the provincial minister who defined only responsibilities of the federal government in this particular case and “deliberately concealed” facts related to the provincial administration.

“He [Saeed Ghani] is a minister and he should not talk nonsense,” said Mr Naqvi. “His party has always won on the promise of housing and employment. How many people in Sindh have been enjoying this privilege? This Sindh government is a product of tyranny and oppression and its ministers are liars and hypocrites. The people of Sindh cannot be deceived anymore.”

Absence of CM questioned

Accompanied by PTI Karachi president Khurram Sher Zaman and party MPAs Shehzad Qureshi, Arsalan Taj and Bilal Ghaffar, the PTI leader also questioned the absence of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah during these challenging times.

“Due to growing number of Covid-19 case, there is no space in the province’s hospitals,” said Mr Sher Zaman. “The incompetent high officials of Sindh have fled for fear of NAB [National Accountability Bureau].”

He said in a recent survey report a large number of people had called the Sindh local government system a failure. “The education department of this province is the most devastated. You would hardly find any district where clean drinking water is available,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2020