PTI to make inroads into Sindh: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Tuesday the PTI would soon make inroads into Sindh, as it did in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Speaking in the Senate, he said:“Sindh is ours. Sindh's capital is ours. Even now the PTI and our allied party MQM have majority in the provincial capital and the PPP should get ready, as the PTI would soon make inroads into Sindh.”

The joint opposition accused the federal government of following a confused policy on the coronavirus, leaving the provinces on their own, while the government said the opposition was playing politics, as the input of all provinces, including Sindh, was part of the national

policy. During the debate on the joint opposition’s agenda items, clubbed together by Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, one opposition senator asserted that by merely showing a Turkish drama to masses, the critical challenges, including the corona, could not be fought and the state of Madina could not be established. The session was called on the requisition submitted by the opposition. The opposition senators alleged that the lockdown had been practically lifted and the government looked for herd immunity, which was too dangerous and asked if it was necessary to repeat the blunders committed by countries in the West.

They questioned the logic behind lifting the lockdown at a time when there was an alarming increase in virus cases. A proposal was floated for zeroing the interest rate, enabling people to benefit from this offer. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was the third speaker, who mostly responded to the points particularly raised by the PPP parliamentary leader Senator Sherry Rehman.

Sherry dubbed Prime Minister Imran Khan a missing person from Parliament.

Qureshi said the prime minister was in Islamabad working day and night against the virus. He said all the decisions were being made with consultation with the provinces and taking them on board.

He rejected Sherry’s claims that the Centre did not follow a unified policy, and said the prime minister held meetings with the provincial chief ministers every day and heard everyone out before finalising a strategy.

"There is no confusion, the policy is clear," he said. He explained how the prime minister would let chief minister Sindh to speak first in the National Coordination Committee meetings and Sindh had its top representation in the National Command and Operation Centre, whereas the PML-N gave its input through PM AJK and CM GB.

The minister explained that a national strategy had been created and they (opposition) had given its input in it and the government duly valued their input.

About criticism over easing of the lockdown, he said lockdown was a temporary solution adding that the real solution was the vaccine but that will take time. Until the real solution comes, we have to see how we can control the spread of the virus,” he said.

He criticised the opposition for blaming the government for delay in calling the National Assembly session. He said the session was delayed because consensus could not be reached within the opposition since many members were against calling the session.

He said even the deputy chairperson of the Senate, a prominent leader of the PPP, was against the idea.

He advised the opposition to first evolve consensus within their ranks, and accused the PPP of following a policy of provincialism. He claimed this was not the PPP of the past, which was a symbol of the federation.

“Today, I smell roots of provincialism in the party,” he argued and rejected its claim that the Centre had left Sindh on its own.

The minister denied the lockdown was enforced by the elite. Qureshi said the premier had been quoted out of context, as he had said that while the elite could afford and survive the lockdown, the weaker segments would not.

Regarding the Sindh government’s criticism of objections to the ordinance, he said what type of ordinance the provincial government was bringing? How could you waive off payment of electricity dues? “Sindh is ours. Don’t try to be its contractors. The governor asked for removal of the genuine objections,” he said.

The minister agreed that the pandemic would lead to global recession. Qureshi appreciated Opposition Leader Raja Zafarul Haq for talking about Kashmir and the impact of the coronavirus on the people of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

“The situation in Kashmir is very serious. They were already under siege with a communications blackout. Amid the coronavirus crisis, Indian premier Modi's government instead of helping (Kashmiris) started entering their homes on the pretext of coronavirus.

“They enter their homes and kill them and then do not return the bodies to their families so that people cannot gather to protest,” he said, adding that he had written letters to the foreign ministers of all Muslim countries and had brought it to the attention of the United Nations Security Council and questioned the silence of OIC over it.

Earlier, in her speech, Senator Sherry said, “This is the first time in Pakistan’s history that we are fighting a pandemic of this nature but the prime minister’s words of unity and healing are missing along with his presence in Parliament. What is keeping him so busy that he cannot attend the sessions? Is Parliament irrelevant, because this is the message he is giving? Who is running the country if he is missing? Why has the CCI not met yet? Like the missing person, there is a missing policy. He needs to be here sharing his plan of action because what is more important than forging unity for your people”.

She said, “Provinces have been told to fend for themselves. Even though they are self-sufficient, they are not the state. The need of the hour is to come together and form a uniformed strategy to tackle this situation, as it is not possible for a province alone to tackle an issue of this magnitude alone”.

“Provinces should not be feeling isolated and left on their own. 18th Amendment is being used to hide the federal government’s incompetency and provinces are being told to do things on their own. But 18th Amendment has nothing to do with this. We can all sit down and discuss this matter but now is not the time to create such distractions. Everyday there is a tirade of abuse against Sindh, which we are ignoring because we do not want to get into dirty politics, especially at this time when the country is fighting a national emergency. This is the time for national unity where all provinces must be on the same page,” she continued.

“The life Vs livelihood debate is irrelevant right now. Lives come first and there should be no confusion about it. We do not need to cite other countries and the decaying economies of the West, as our priorities need to be shifted. We need to learn from their mistakes and not repeat them. This is an unprecedented situation, why should we experiment on our people’s lives? A major chunk of the s1.2 trillion relief package has been allocated to big businesses and construction sector but now our budget needs to reflect human security. We need to realise that capitalism has failed us,” she added.

Sherry argued that the situation was worse than the war.

“Our healthcare system is collapsing. We have six beds for 10,000 people. Healthcare professionals are constantly saying that our resources will exhaust. Since there is no policy, there is a chance of losing one million people to this virus. Is that acceptable to us? There must be a single message and policy.

Criticizing the ‘ambiguity’ in the government policy regarding the lockdown, Senator Sherry said the federal government’s mixed messages had led to serious confusion amongst the various segments of society.

“SOPs are not being followed and people are out shopping for Eid; this is only because the highest office of this country is giving a mixed and confused message to the public. There needs to be a single message and policy to avoid chaos and create national unity. Our people are not alone and this is the message, which needs to be given out.

Leader of Opposition Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq, who had moved the motion for debate in the House, said they had the feeling that the government would not like to seek the legislature’s input on the most important national matters therefore, they had to requisition the session. He charged the government’ attitude was against the spirit of forging unity and coherence and the consequences of its negative approach could be faced by the nation.

He added the prime minister’s statement that the elite had forced the lockdown had divided the nation, alleging from the very start, the government attitude was negative.

Contrary to the health experts’ news conferences and opinions, the government, he noted, decided to apparently lift the lockdown and in the meantime, a front was opened against the Sindh chief minister, who offered to follow the Centre.

PML-N Senator Musadik Malik made a very emotional speech, citing two incidents, involving his sons and said that by lifting the lockdown, the government was moving towards ‘herd immunity’.

“It means that after 60-70pc are infected and many people are dead, those who have survived will turn the wheel of the economy. But graveyards do not have an economic wheel,” he warned.

Senator Malik recommended that the government should divide the entire country into zones and conduct rigourous testing in the most-affected areas.

He said there could be three zones; the green zone where economic activity could be resumed, yellow where there could be a relaxed lockdown and red zones, which would be put under quarantine.

Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan said the government could not go on a solo flight and that no country in the world had shown such non-seriousness in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic as Pakistan. He said the quarantine centres in Taftan were not camps but barnyards.

He criticised the federal government for creating confusion by giving what he alleged mixed messages and added that in March, the prime minister had opposed the lockdown but the same day, a lockdown was enforced in Sindh and Gilgit Baltistan and Punjab as well.

Senator Mushtaq grilled the government for announcing meager financial assistance for lower-income people, saying that Rs3,000 was not enough for a family to buy basic supplies that would last a month.

“I ask the government to show me any family whose monthly groceries can be bought with Rs3,000. The government should give minimum of Rs17,000 per month to families whose livelihoods were affected by the pandemic,” he said.

He contended, “If you abolish interest on loans, businessmen will take loans and your economy will get a boost. You cannot build the State of Madina by broadcasting the Ertugrul show.”

Senator Javed Abbasi of PML-N regretted that the government did not take strong measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the country.

"The measures you are taking now should have been taken when the first case was detected and the reason why the virus spread among the pilgrims who came through the Taftan border was poor quarantine camps put up by the government. People were bundled together in tents instead of being separated, which led to a rise in infections,” he claimed.

He criticised the government for lifting the lockdown at a time when the virus was spreading at a faster rate while expressing concern that the country's healthcare system would not be able to cope with an increasing number of cases.

Meanwhile, Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Tuesday took exception to the speech of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the Senate and asked him to take back his words or step down.

“ If I extend my hand to you, then I am met with remarks such as ‘we will prove our political strength’ in Sindh’,” he said while addressing a press conference with Senator Mustafa Khokhar, Dr Nafisa Shah and Nazir Dhoki at the Zardari House here.

“They talk about proving their political strength, but we know how their political strength was proven. When he (Shah Mehmood Qureshi) was our minister, we knew who’d approached him and fueled his dreams of becoming the future prime minister,” he said.

Bilawal said there had been no contact with the government after his Monday’s address in the National assembly adding that the government batting order was still the same.

“Serious people are making non-serious remarks; we condemn Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s statement,” he said.

Bilawal said when they talk about Sindh, it was said that the PPP was playing the Sindh card.

“When I talk about Balochistan and its issues, am I playing the Balochistan card? Similarly, when I talk about Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s issues, am I playing the KP card? When I talk about Kashmir and speak up about what our PM is afraid of saying, am I playing the Kashmir card?” he said.

He said Imran Khan used the poor to benefit the elite; he met with the business-oriented class but not with the farmers’ representatives or trade unions.

“Khan Sahib was trying to woo industrialists and was fulfilling their demands. He was giving construction package to Anil Musarrat and other construction tycoons in the name of relief package,” he said.

On the other hand, he said the PPP wanted to give a corona relief package in Sindh and wanted to provide relief to its people but the federal government tried to sabotage its efforts.

He said the governor did not sign the package.

“We do not want to get into any debate and we will again send that package to the governor again. You have delayed relief for the people of Sindh,” he said.

“The PTI should copy paste our corona relief package for other provinces as well and we want the people of other provinces to benefit from it. The federal government politicizes every issue.”

Responding to a question about former president Asif Ali Zardari’s health, he said according to the WHO’s guidelines, people with underlying conditions were advised to not leave their houses at all.

“Former president Zardari suffers from underlying conditions such as diabetes and cardiac complications, Shahbaz Sharif is a cancer patient, which is why they have refrained from attending the parliamentary session,” he said.

On the other hand, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan drew his salary from Parliament but did not attend its sessions. He is not doing his job, he added.

He said 11 health workers had martyred serving the country, while over 600 Pakistanis had died at the hands of the Covid-19.

Answering a question, he said if the judicial and executive bodies were proceeding with their activities, then the National Assembly should do the same.

He said the National Assembly was there to hold the executives accountable and that its sessions should be held and the federal government should take the PPP advice seriously.

“If the federal government wants to give us more responsibility, then it has to give us more resources,” he said.

Responding to another question, he said the federal government used the Constitution to hide its own failures, as there was no problem due to the Constitution.

“Plant protection is the responsibility of the federal government according to the Constitution,” he said.

He said Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) got the Constitution passed unanimously and it was attacked during Gen Zia’s dictatorship and afterwards during Musharraf’s dictatorship.

“It was ironic that General Zia’s name was part of the Constitution and we removed his name through the 18th Amendment,” he said.

Bilawal said Zardari was the most powerful president of this country but he transferred his powers to the prime minister, making this country a democratic one.

“We restored the 1973 Constitution and the anti-democratic people only oppose it because it is a democratic constitution, and they want a dictatorship,” he said, adding that this was not the time to start this debate and ‘we should not indulge in such tactics and should deal with the pandemic.’

Responding to a question about the sugar report, Bilawal said this was a gimmick because the PTI never wanted accountability and just wanted its people and allies to stay loyal to it.

“This sugar gimmickry proves that either the prime minister is corrupt and wants to give benefit to his cronies like his ATM or he is too ill-advised,” he said.

Bilawal said they had been informing the media about attacks on the 18th Amendment and they were the target of victimization because the rulers wanted to use the 18th Amendment as a bargaining chip.

“They cannot alter the 18th Amendment with only two or three vote majority but if they want to meddle with it in the garb of the pandemic, then we are ready to resist them at every forum,” he said.

Bilawal said in this pandemic, food security was an issue that needed to be addressed worldwide. He said according to a UN report, Pakistan was more prone to facing the food security challenges.

“After 25 years, there has been a locust attack and plant protection is the federal government’s subject. The federal government was given one year to prepare and it had promised to us that it would send planes in March. “Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had brought in planes from Iran and other countries in 90s when locust had attacked Pakistan. The federal government promised us six planes but only one plane was provided. There have been locust attacks in Balochistan as well and the federal government has not helped us at all,” he added.

He also shared pictures showing locust attacks all over Sindh (Jamshoro, Hyderabad etc) and said, “This concerns our agriculture; the federal government is sleeping. We demand that the whole of Pakistan should be protected. This is not an issue that only concerns the rural areas, as cities too are impacted by it and we have to take this seriously,” he said.