LARKANA: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf vice president Amir Bakhsh Bhutto on Friday called for appropriate action against Sindh government after its Information Minister Saeed Ghani admitted in a television talk show that Sindh police had been deployed at Sindh House to counter federal government’s expected moves.

In a statement issued from his native town, Mirpur Bhutto, he said the minister admission warranted action against him and the Sindh government under Articles 137, 143, 148(1) and 149 of the Constitution which made it clear that all powers with provinces would be under the authority of federal government. Pitting Sindh police against federal force was tantamount to pushing country towards a civil war, he opined.

Referring to Sindh chief minister’s statement that “people would offer stiff resistance if governor’s rule was imposed on Sindh”, he said it was a hollow claim considering the fact that during its 15 years of rule, PPP had plundered and looted the province. Therefore, he added, not even a single person would shed tears on sending the Sindh government home. He said turns in history and its ups and downs were a strange phenomenon.

Peeping into history, he recalled that in the year 1977, PPP was forcefully telling people about international conspiracies being hatched against an elected prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The PTI leader said the PPP was still surviving on the sacrifice rendered by him [Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]. The same PPP, he added, was now standing on the other side of the history and being exploited by the international oppressive forces and their local goons. They should keep in mind that the 1977 turmoil had paved the way for a long period of martial law.

“Perhaps, either they [PPP] have not learnt a lesson from history or they are wrapped in the intoxication of capturing powers; or they have turned blind to derail democratic system and violate the Constitution,” he said.

Commenting on PTI defectors, Amir Bakhsh Bhutto said they had only blackened their faces and earned the permanent titles of ‘lotas (turncoats)’ and ‘ghaddars (traitors)’. He said such people had no consideration of their own honour, value and dignity.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2022