HYDERABAD: A Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader and former education minister Rana Mashhood has said that mid-term elections are necessary for the survival of democracy.

He was speaking to the media at the residence of a local party leader, Anwar Soomro, in Qasimabad on Sunday.

He claimed that all policies of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government had failed, and remarked that “there must be an end to experiments.

Rana Mashhood alleged that the present ruling team was corrupt and involved in flour and sugar scam. He said the rulers allowed prices of medicines and urea to go up. The government also failed to control coronavirus and save the national economy from collapse.

He claimed that it was due to the government’s flawed policy on Covid-19 control that such cases had increased and several thousand people died of the virus. He said that had government sealed the country’s borders timely, the situation would have been different. Even before the outbreak of the pandemic, the economy had been in the doldrums, he added.

He pointed out that new scams involving federal ministers were emerging.

He observed that although the opposition had not disturbed it, the PTI government’s performance appeared ‘zero’. He said it [the government] should get full time. However, he said, the rulers must be held accountable.

Rana Mashhood claimed that today, people were missing [convicted and ousted prime minister] Nawaz Sharif as “his government had brought about prosperity in the country”.

He said that the PML-N had strengthened the country. The opposition parties had agreed to raise the slogan of vote ko izzat do’ but then some parties fell prey to expediencies, he said.

Commenting on the PTI government’s position, he said that it could get only 160 votes for the passage of the budget 2020-21 as against the simple majority of 172 votes. “It has lost support of majority in the parliament,” he said.

He also noted that there were only a few persons who were released funds from the national exchequer. “They are the same people who had given money to Imran Khan [in his election campaign] and now Mr Khan was obliging them.

The PML-N leader said that whenever people’s mandate was insulted, everything would reverse so far as development and prosperity was concerned. He said that the man who used to collect donations, was now begging for Pakistan. He said that soon a multi-party conference would be held and it would discuss everything before taking decisions.

He said that present rulers had destroyed economy. He said it was PML-N’s government which had eliminated terrorism and launched the project like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He said that Nawaz Sharif had endeavoured to strengthen Pakistan and Shahbaz Sharif developed the country.

He said PML-N had promoted harmony and this was making people to recall Nawaz Sharif’s era. He said that today provinces’ share in resource distribution was being slashed and attempts were also being made to do away with the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

Rana Mashhood said that when government policies failed, it summoned mid-term elections to seek people’s mandate.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2020