Daily Times

Sindh Minister for Information, Archives and Labour Saeed Ghani has said that people showed their extreme love and support for Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in his first-ever public meeting in Liaquat Bagh on Friday.

The provincial minister said that it was one of the huge public meetings ever witnessed in historical Liaquat Bagh. Addressing a press conference on Saturday, he said not only thousands of workers and supporters of Pakistan People’s Party but also people from all walks of life came to show their love and affection for their beloved leaders, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

While censuring the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf for making drastic changes in the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, through a presidential ordinance promulgated on Friday, Ghani said that it was only done for fulfilling ulterior motives.

The provincial minister said that the only reason to curtail the powers of NAB was to save the financers of the PTI. Besides, to bar the NAB to initiate investigation against few of the projects initiated by the PTI, he added. Ghani said that the PPP always opposed the black law of National Accountability Bureau, as it had also resulted in deaths of few of the upright individuals. He said that the officials working with National Accountability Bureau never learnt from their mistakes.

He said that the NAB had been limited to the political witch-hunt only. Ghani said that the actions taken against former President Asif Ali Zardari, Faryal Talpur, Syed Khursheed Shah and Agha Siraj Durrani were the clear manifestation that NAB was never impartial nor independent. Only opposition figures appeared to be in its cross hairs, Ghani added. He said that the court orders issued to grant bails were the self explanatory that how the senior leadership of Pakistan People’s Party was being victimized by NAB. Saeed Ghani said that the only amendment which was needed in the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, was to hold accountable the officials of NAB who were involved in harassing people. The Provincial Minister for Information said that it was quite unfortunate that the leaders of PTI, including its allies and also the relatives of the premier had already been completely exempted from the NAB law. Responding to the statement of federal minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan, Saeed Ghani said that to ensure the provision of gas was the sole responsibility of the federal government as Sui Southern Gas Company Limited as well as Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited were the federal entities. The provincial minister said that in accordance with article 158 of the constitution the province from where the gas was being produced had its right to be provided the same first of all. He said that if the people of Sindh would suffer due to unavailability of gas then, we would keep questioning the federal government time and again.