LARKANA: Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Ali Zaidi has said that debate on the idea of presidential form of government for Pakistan is raging on social media and he does not know where the advertisements promoting the presidential system run on television channels has come from.

The minister, who is also president of the Sindh chapter of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, said that the issue had not been discussed in assembly or cabinet and the core committee’s meetings nor debated among the party’s senior leadership.

The suggestion was meaningless as the key issue was implementation of laws, he said at a press conference at Larkana Press Club on Saturday.

He reiterated that the chief minister of Sindh would be from among PTI or its coalition partners in the wake of 2023 general election. PTI would continue to mount pressure on the Sindh government over its corruption, he said. He said that Sindh had received Rs12,000 billion under National Finance Commission award but it had failed to develop even one world class business and economic hub, or established a state-of-the-art hospital or educational institution in the province.

The minister said that Sindh government had systematically devastated Karachi and Larkana wore a pathetic look even after reported expenditure of Rs96 billion on the city.

SUKKUR: Later at a press conference in Jacobabad, the federal minister termed PPP major cause of the province’s backwardness and said solution to most problems was linked to local body election.

“What Sindh government has passed as a new LG law has been completely rejected by opposition parties, including PTI in provincial assembly,” he said.

“We will never stop raising voice against this black law and I will go to Supreme Court against it,” vowed Mr Zaidi.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2022