Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said the manner in which Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Federal Minister for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed had censured and targeted Pakistan People's Party, was highly regrettable.
The provincial information minister said the statements of Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Murad Saeed reflected how much hatred these federal ministers had against a unit of the country. He said no one, including him, expected such bias from these federal ministers against Sindh province. Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said at a time when the whole country was facing a pandemic, making such statements was not only beyond comprehension, but also an act that deserved severe rebuke.
Nasir Shah said it was a dehumanizing act that should not had happened. He said it was time to unite and not to divide the nation by making such statements. The minister said the policy of PPP had always been to unite the nation and that was why when the Covid-19 pandemic started spreading, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari instructed the Sindh government to work together and cooperate fully with the federal government in this battle against the pandemic by putting aside all the differences.
The provincial information minister said it was very unfortunate that since the Covid-19 outbreak, the attitude of the federal government was very frivolous and biased. He said since the first case of Corona virus came to light in the country, the statements of all the federal ministers had been on record and by listening to these statements one could easily guess what they were up to in fact.
Syed Nasir Shah said if one had to gauge their seriousness, it could be inferred from the fact that the prime minister addressed the meeting of the parliamentary leaders and left without listening to anyone. He said we had always said that Imran Khan was the prime minister of the whole country, but what kind of prime minister was he who did not bother to listen to any other leader in the meeting of parliamentary leaders. He said his attitude did not reflect that of a democratic leader.
The minister further said it was absolutely wrong to say that there had been no progress after the 18th amendment, adding that if we look, there had been a lot of progress in every field since the advent of this amendment. The provincial Information Minister said after the health sector had been shifted to the provinces after the 18th amendment, the number of free heart surgeries in Sindh had been higher than in all of Asia. He said the way in NICVD had been extended across the province and the way the free heart surgery was being done through it in the whole province was unprecedented.
Syed Nasir Hussain Shah added that cancer treatment at Jinnah Hospital was now being done through modern technology like cyber knife.He said the treatment of cancer in the Civil hospital under Dr Adib-ul-Hassan Rizvi through modern technology, and the establishment of a modern medical institute in Gambat were the achievements which were unparalleled in the whole country. "Liver transplantation is being done at Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences which has never been done in Pakistan before", he said.
Nasir Shah said more medical colleges had been established in Sindh after the 18th amendment. Federal ministers should come to Sindh themselves, instead of making baseless statements, and see for themselves that how much work had been done so far after the 18th amendment, minister added. He said before criticizing Sindh, its achievements should be compared with other provinces. Nasir Shah said the 18th amendment had not been fully implemented yet, adding that, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also demanded aid in the context of the 18th amendment.
The minister said Sindh province had demanded aid not only for itself, but for all other provinces. He said PPP was in favor of devolution of power at the grassroots level, but in this regard whenever it was discussed only Sindh province was mentioned, whereas in contrast, the local bodies in Punjab had been abolished two years ago and so far there were no elections held for their revival.
Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said local body elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan were also being postponed constantly, but the target of criticism was only Sindh province. The provincial information minister said the purpose of criticizing Sindh province at present was to sabotage the 18th amendment. He said PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was repeatedly saying that everyone of us should focus only on the battle against the Corona virus pandemic at present, but it was incomprehensible that constantly sometimes Sindh province was becoming the target of criticism under the guise of dog vaccine, and sometimes for other baseless reasons. He said if the critics did not satisfy with all this, then they started talking about repealing the 18th amendment without any reason.
Nasir Shah said the vision of PTI was reflected in the statements of its leaders. The PPP was being punished for its timely efforts to save the people of Sindh from the global pandemic, minister said. He added that enemies of Sindh had been given free rein to attack 18th Amendment and NFC without any reason.