PTI leader accuses Sindh govt of usurping rights of agricultural community

KARACHI: Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh Monday said that PPP Sindh government who had usurped rights and resources of agricultural community in the province was holding a farmers tractors march for mere political scoring.

Haleem Adil while speaking to media persons outside Anti-Terrorism Court where he appeared before ATC in a case on Monday, termed PPP’s march as a brazen act as a party that embezzled billions in subsidized tractor scheme, sold gunny bags of growers to traders and stolen irrigation water was trying to become advocate of farmers’ rights.

Haleem Adil censured PPP for holding tractor march and said that the party that wanted to exploit farmers for their political point scoring embezzled billions of rupees earmarked for subsidy on 3200 tractors to farmers. They collected CNICs from farmers in the name of distribution of food ration and then the same cards were used by Omni Group to usurp billions of rupees of farmers, Haleem Adil alleged. He said that farmers in Sindh were not getting gunny bags for wheat, sugarcane growers could not get fair price from sugar mills mostly owned by Zardari and company while tail-end farmers were facing severe shortage of irrigation water due to mismanagement.

Farmers and growers across Pakistan were issued ‘Kisan Card’ and they were availing its benefits including subsidy on seed and fertilizer but in Sindh PPP had deprived farmers of their rights, Haleem said and added “PPP has turned into anti-peasant, anti worker and anti people party.”

Haleem Adil said that false and fabricated cases were instituted against him by PPP Sindh government because he was exposing corruption and inefficiency of Asif Zardari, Murad Ali Shah and his accomplice. There were vast scale corruption in health, education and all other government departments in Sindh while human rights of people were being violated, he added. “I exposed corruption in food department, I raised issue of procurement of expensive school desks, I have taken up murder cases of Nazim Jokhio and Fehmida Sial and reached at hospitals of Sindh to help destitute and needy people of the province and that was my crime,” he stated.

He and his companions were political workers who were fighting case of poor and deprived people of Sindh, Haleem Adil said adding that he was charged in false cases of terrorism though neither he nor his companions were terrorists and all the available videos, photographs and other evidences were presented to the JIT. Even, he was involved in defamation cases by a provincial minister who was allegedly involved in patronizing sell of narcotics in his constituency, Haleem said and termed it as a well thought conspiracy to keep him engaged in court proceedings and obstruct him from serving the people of Sindh.

On the other side, the district public prosecutor Malir was with-holding JIT report on Nazim Jokhio murder case to save the influential assassins belonging to PPP; he alleged adding that the Sindh prosecution department that was headed by Murtaza Wahab had become facilitator of terrorists and tyrannical killers.