KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Information, Local Government, Housing & Town Planning, Religious Affairs, Forest and Wildlife Syed Nasir Hussain Shah while criticising the members of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), said that some people protested outside the Sindh Assembly as a political ploy, which was beyond comprehension.
The provincial Information Minister said that if they had so much pain for the people of Karachi in their hearts, then would they like to tell the people that what they asked for Karachi from the federal government, of which they were also one of the allies.
He made the remarks while addressing a press conference on Sunday. Sindh Minister for Education and Labour Saeed Ghani and Sindh Minister for Energy Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh were also present during the press conference.
Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that if MQM-P had to protest, it should do so against the federal government and not against the provincial government. The senior provincial Minister said that the MQM should ask the federal government that what happened with Rs162 billion package announced for Karachi.
He said that what one could say about a party which did not own its federal minister. The provincial Information Minister said that the politics of MQM Pakistan was limited to Karachi and Hyderabad only.
He said that media representatives should ask the people of MQM Pakistan what they demanded from the federal government for Karachi. Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that the sit-in of MQM Pakistan should be in front of the National Assembly and not in front of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh.
While censuring the federal government Nasir Hussain Shah said that the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products was another proof of the incompetence of the PTI government. He said that it came as shock to the people of the country. He added that in a few days it will be known who had been benefited from such a huge increase in the prices of petroleum products.
He said that cheap petrol was not available to the people. He said that there was no precedent in the past for the way people were wandering for cheap petrol.
The provincial minister said that the PTI government had failed in every field by deceiving the people for a 'change'. He said that neither the federal government itself imported oil nor did it allow oil marketing companies to import oil, and when anyone asked them about their performance, they started making allegations. He said that the sufferings of the people were increasing owing to the incomprehensible policies of the PTI government.
He said before Imran Khan became the Prime Minister, he used to say that increase in the prices of petroleum products makes everything more expensive and today he himself is the cause of this inflation.
Referring to the recently presented budget of the Sindh government, Nasir Hussain Shah said that although it was not an ideal budget, but still on the instructions of Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah prepared and presented as better budget as he could.
He said that there was no doubt that the recent budget of Sindh had given priority to the health sector over all other sectors, but apart from that considering the serious problems faced by the farmers, small landowners, and people running small businesses a considerable amount had been set aside in this budget. Critics may not be aware of this, but the Sindh provincial government had also allocated a large portion of the budget to Karachi, he said.
He said that the provincial government was working on various projects regarding water and it was the promise of the provincial government that improvements would be made in this regard soon.-PR
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020