KARACHI: Pakistan Peo­ples Party Sindh chapter pre­si­dent Nisar Ahmed Khu­hro has said Senate Chair­man Mian Raza Rab­bani has taken a principled stand to stop working over absence of federal ministers from the Senate proceedings and said the absence is an affront to the office of the chairman and the sanctity of the house.

Mr Khuhro, who is also senior provincial minister for parliamentary affairs, said at a press conference at PPP Media Cell in Bilawal House on Friday that they would wait to see when the prime minister took action against his erring ministers.

About extension of policing powers to the Rangers, he said that when the Sindh government took a decision in this regard it would be known to everyone.

He said the PML-N government had already lost credibility in the eyes of the public and the court’s decision on Panama leaks would prove to be the ‘last nail in its coffin’.

He rejected the presumption that PPP leaders Ghulam Qadir Marri and Ashfaq Leghari, close aides of party head Asif Ali Zardari, might have been kidnapped by dacoits and said bandits did not carry with them walkie-talkies. The federal government was not ready to disclose the whereabouts of the missing PPP leaders which showed its helplessness, he said.

Answering a question, the minister said the federal government’s attitude to small provinces was one of double standards. Sindh, which produced 70 per cent of total gas, was deprived of gas while Punjab, which did not produce even two per cent of gas, was given a lion’s share in new gas connections, he said.

Reacting to PTI leader Khurram Sherzaman’s allegations against PPP, Mr Khu­hro said that before poin­t­ing fingers towards others he should look to himself.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2017