HYDERABAD: Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh has said the 18th Amendment has only benefited Pakistan Peoples Party chairman and Chief Minister House and given nothing to people of Sindh.

If the 18th Amendment had been that beneficial for Sindh then Rs1,200 billion would not have become source of corruption, a fact which had been identified in Auditor General of Pakistan’s report, said Mr Sheikh while speaking to journalists at a reception given in his honour in Hala Naka area on Wednesday.

He said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf would not leave Sindh at the mercy of “thieves, bandits and inept rulers”. Sindh would soon witness a change as PPP was rapidly moving away from Pakistan Democratic Movement over fears of reopening of Swiss account cases, he said.

Referring to Sindh chief minister’s appearance before authorities in probe into graft charges, he said that those who had targeted him had travelled 1,500 kilometres to attend the hearing. They would all be held accountable for their actions soon, he said.

‘The amendment has given nothing to people of Sindh’

He said that recovery of a huge amount of Rs1.5bn from an SHO was a grave issue and it had put a big question mark on the level of corruption in Sindh police, which had virtually become slave to corrupt rulers.

He said that poor peoples’ settlements were being razed on the pretext of apex court’s orders but hotels, filling stations and buildings owned by influential persons had been spared in Nawabshah.

He said that poor people of Sindh had been suffering at the hands of the corrupt elite for the last 13 years. The conditions had become so pathetic that constituency of Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, a sister of Asif Ali Zardari, that had no anti-rabies vaccine in past now lacked anti-snake venom (ASV) as well, a fact which came to the fore after a boy died due to unavailability of the ASV in Nawabshah. It was in spite of the fact that health department had a phenomenal budget of Rs240bn, he said.

He disclosed that first Rs920m were released for neutering stray dogs but then the process was left halfway and culling was restarted. Where had the Rs920m gone, he asked.

He said in answer to a question that it did not matter if Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari did not know opposition leader in Sindh Assembly because PPP chairman was also unaware whether he was a Bhutto or Zardari. He had no complaints against the “innocent” PPP chairman, he said.

He said that federal government was bringing about reforms in officers’ rotation policy and responsibilities under which Police Service of Pakistan and administrative officers posted in Sindh for a long time would be sent packing because they had become corrupt and started acting like slaves of Sindh government. Professional and competent officers would be posted in their place.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2021