Sindh ministers appeal Hazara protesters to bury their loved ones

KARACHI: The ministers of the Sindh government have appealed to the bereaved families in Balochistan who lost their loved ones in the Machh tragedy to bury their loved ones without waiting for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit.

The provincial ministers were delivering a policy statement of the Sindh government during the session of the Sindh Assembly on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani said that bereaved families in Quetta hoped to get justice after the meeting the PM so he (the PM) shouldn’t delay the desired meeting. He criticised the PM while saying that his (PM’s) latest statements on the issue had hurt the sentiments of the bereaved families. He said the intensity of the grief of the bereaved families would reduce after PM shows them compassion. He criticised that due to protest and sit ins at scores of spots in Karachi the movement of people from one area to another in the city had become impossible which is causing great inconvenience. Sindh Mines and Mineral Minister Mir Shabbir Ali Bijarani expressed his deep regret that the prime minister used the word blackmailers for the aggrieved protestors in Quetta. He said that such an irresponsible statement didn’t match the stature of a PM. He said the bereaved families only wanted to meet the PM to share their grief with him and seek justice. He predicted that the PM would have to express remorse and take a U-turn on his latest statement about the protestors in Quetta.

He mentioned that Chairman of Pakistan Peoples’ Party Bilawal Bhuto Zardari had gone to Quetta to meet in person with the protestors. He earnestly appealed to the Shia Hazara community to bury their oved ones without waiting for the PM.

Sindh Women Development Minister Syeda Shehla Raza said that maximum number of protest sit-ins were being held in Sindh as the provincial government is providing security to the protestors. But such a large number of sit-ins in the province have created security issues and also caused hardships to the people. She appealed to the protestors to reduce the number of sit-ins in the city in view of the hardships to the masses.

Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Khan Durrani said on the occasion that the building of the Sindh Assembly is also facing security threats. He disclosed in the house that certain suspects were apprehended from whom pictures of the interior and exterior portions of the assembly building were found.

Earlier, speaking during the question hour of the session, Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah claimed that an intra-city bus service comprising of 250 buses would be launched in Karachi in the current year.

He said that new buses in the city would use a hybrid fuel system. He said that a summary had been sent to the Sindh chief minister for approval of funds for the proposed intra-city bus service. The provincial transport minister claimed that two projects of public transportation would be launched in Karachi during the current year. The minister during the question hour failed to satisfy the Opposition legislators in the house who repeatedly asked questions about unsatisfactory performance of the Transport Department especially its failure to launch any viable public transport scheme in Karachi.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Secretary in the house for Health Qasim Siraj Soomro informed the house that at present 58 doctors were performing duties at the Sindh Government Qatar Hospital in Orangi.