Daily Times

SUKKUR: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Saturday alleged that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was giving extortion money to Darul Uloom Haqqania, referring to the news reports claiming that the KP government is set to approve a grant to the tune of Rs 277 million for the seminary.

“The money collected from taxpayers should be spent on their welfare,” said the PPP scion while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD). Bilawal said that the KP government was not streamlining religious institutions. The KP government had earlier released Rs 300 million for the seminary, but sources said the project was set to cost Rs 557.59 million, and thus extra funds were being released for the seminary for construction work.

The PPP chairman also took a jibe at former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, saying he [Nawaz] was destroying the whole system just to save his family’s reign.

“No one is focusing on issue-based politics… no one is paying any attention to health, education, and employment issues in the country.”

Lashing out at Nawaz further, he said that while the deposed premier was insisting on respecting the sanctity of vote he was frequently found absent from parliament sessions during his tenure. “A VIP accountability process is underway with Nawaz and his family,” he said. “The law should be same for all.”

He also questioned former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf’s exit from the country.

The PPP chairman claimed that his party had done extensive development work in Sindh. “We might have committed mistakes, but we have done the most to make lives of Sindhis better.”

Separately, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that the PPP is following the path treaded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto to create a society which is prosperous and peaceful.

Published in Daily Times, February 25^th 2018.