‘Sindh govt officers who opted for plea bargain are frontmen of PPP ministers and leaders’

Leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh chapter on Saturday alleged that most of the Sindh government officers who had entered into a plea bargain and voluntary return scheme with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) were in fact frontmen of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) central leaders and provincial ministers.

PTI Karachi President Khurrum Sher Zaman and parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh levelled this allegation while addressing a press conference at the Insaf House. They said the PPP had itself caused its bad reputation by plundering public funds.

PTI MNA Aslam Khan, MPA Omar Omari and other leaders were also present at the press conference.

Recently, the Sindh government submitted to the Sindh High Court details of its 93 civil servants who had opted for voluntary return or plea bargain with NAB, as reported by The News on December 22.

Zaman, who is also a member of the Sindh Assembly, asked the Sindh government to explain why such corrupt civil servants were still occupying key posts in the province. “The corrupt government officers have looted the money during the PPP’s 13 years in the province under the patronage of provincial ministers and the party’s central leaders,” he alleged.

“The Auditor General of Pakistan reports that irregularities of Rs1,148 billion have been observed in Sindh. The officers from grade 17 to 20 who did the bargaining have been re-appointed by the PPP ministers and given big responsibilities.”

The PTI Karachi chief claimed that those officers belonged to various departments, including the food, irrigation, livestock department, works, revenue and information departments.

“Even a grade 20 finance secretary has entered into a plea bargain of 12 million and he is still on duty,” Zaman alleged. “In the Chief Engineer Irrigation Department Sukkur, grade 20 officers are also sitting on their seats even after entering into plea bargain deals with NAB.”

The PTI leader asked who should be held accountable for the embezzled money. “How have their secretaries become richer day by day?”

He added that on the one hand, government officers in Sindh had been turning rich but on the other hand, there were no basic facilities in the hospitals of the province.

Census reservations

Commenting on reservations of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) regarding the approval of the census results, the PTI leaders said the federal government would resolve the apprehensions of the MQM-P.

“The MQM-P is the PTI’s key ally in the federal government and both parties have a good understanding over various issues, including the census,” said Sheikh, who is also the PTI’s central vice-president.

He added that the local government elections were near and without approving the census, holding them was difficult.

“MQM-P leader and federal minister Aminul Haque is part of the committee which has been discussing the census issue,” he said, adding that the coalition between the PTI and MQM-P was not in danger.

PDM movement

The PTI leaders also criticised the Pakistan Democratic Movement for holding anti-government rallies, saying that the leadership of the 11-party opposition alliance was afraid of Imran Khan’s growing popularity, and development and prosperity in the country.

“Corrupt leaders of the corrupt political parties are united under the PDM’s banner to save themselves from anti-corruption bodies at the cost of endangering people’s lives,” Sheikh said. He recalled that both the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the two major parties in the PDM, had made corruption cases against each other’s leadership in the past.

Sheikh added that Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani, who was once a close aide to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the PDM chief, had also exposed the ulterior motives of the opposition alliance and its head.

Arms licences

Sheikh also claimed that 218 licences of weapons had been issued in the name of Javed Nayab Leghari, an adviser of the Sindh chief minister.

“The Sindh government has been hiding the data of the people to whom arms licences have been issued. It is a security matter and law enforcement agencies should take notice of it,” the PTI leader said.