govt, ppp breathe fire as spat scales new heights

7/23/2019 Govt, PPP Breathe Fire as Spat Scales New Heights

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Govt, PPP breathe fire as spat scales new heights

By Iftikhar A. Khan and Khawar Ghumman !"#!$#"%!$ !"&%%&%% A'

I()A'ABA*& +he standoff between the centre and the (indh government intensified on'onday, with Interior 'inister haudhry -isar Ali Khan firing a fresh salvo and accusing the

PPP of using politics as a shield to ustify its /wrongdoing/.

/0hen some institution holds them accountable they term it an attack on Karachi. (indh is not

under attack by the centre or any institution, but those in hold of land, resources and wealth in

the province for years and eating them up like moths,/ the minister said in a statement.

0hat prompted the firestorm was severe criticism by PPP leaders of his statement that the

federal government had legal options to keep the Karachi operation going if the (indh

government failed to e1tend 2angers/ stay in the province.+he PPP hit bacl3 furiously, with the)eader of the 4pposition in the -ational Assembly, Khursheed Ahmed (hah, accusing the

interior minister of deliberately weakening the federation with his untoward remarks against the

(indh government.

'r (hah said the PPP was avoiding a confrontation with the federal government in the best

interest of democracy5 otherwise everybody knew about the level of lawlessness and corruptionin Punab. 6ad the PPP everdemanded deployment of 2angers in )ahore7 0ithout naming the

interior minister, 'r (hah 8uipped& /6e hasn/t seen any ail and enoyed comforts of his home

even when his leader, the prime minister, was in ail and Begum Kalsoom -awa9 was fighting

against the dictatorship of Gen Perve9 'usharraf. :ust !$ days in ail and such people startseeing goat in elephant.

About the e1tension of 2angers powers in (indh, he said hief 'inister ;aim Ali (hah waswaiting for a meet<ing with Prime 'inister -awa9 (harif on the matter as the latter, before

leaving for hina, had a brief telephonic conversation with the former.

+he opposition leader warned the federal government against singling out one province as it

would only hurt the federation.

In his statement issued on 'onday, haudhry -isar said books could be written on in8uiryreports and cases before the courts about their =PPP> acts and deeds, from the ?mployees 4ld

Age Benefits Institution to the +rade *evelopment Authority and from (ui gas to PIA. /+hey did

not even spare 6a and @mra and Pakistan is perhaps the only country in the world where theworst corruption in 6a and @mra took place during their =PPP> days in power, he lamented.

6e said he didn/t need to say anything about his character as it was before people.



0ithout naming anybody, he said the person giving him lecture would have to hide his face if he

narrated his character and performance of the past two and a half years. /0hat should I say aboutthe character of the person criticising the government in the assembly on one hand and silently

getting benefits, including recruitments, transfers and e1tensions, on the other hand,/ he said,

adding that the list of such favours was so long that it reminded some opposition leaders of the

days of ield 'arshal Ayub Khan who were against the government but were with it for the sakeof their interests at the same time.

haudhry -isar said that as opposition leader during the PPP rule he had never met ousuf 2a9aGilani or 2aa Perve9 Ashraf despite having close personal relations. +he two former PPP prime

ministers could testify that, he added.

About his (aturday/s press conference, he said it had become imperative because of the matter

of 2angers/ e1tension had been delayed for three weeks despite meetings and assurances and the

Karachi operation and character of 2angers were being made controversial only for a single

individual a reference to *r Asim 6ussain who is facing various charges, including corruption.

haudhry -isar said the reaction from the (indh government was surprising after the federal

government/s offer that it was ready to address the former/s reservations. Instead of resolvingthe matter with maturity, various PPP leaders started issuing statements against him, he

regretted. +hey focused on personal and uncalled for attacks, he said, adding that such

uncivilised language could only be used by those who had no argument.

2eferring to the (indh government/s claim that the centre was not releasing a penny for the

Karachi operation, theminister said the federal government was spending 2sC billion a year on2angers in Karachi, besides bearing e1penses of federal intelligence agencies in (indh.

6owever, he said the centre could not pay for the second<hand armoured personnel carriers

imported from (erbia as these were costlier than the @(<made new APs.

6e said that even their own inspector general of police had refused to sign the agreement and

was removed from office for /this crime/ haudhry -isar also reected a perception that the

operation was purely a provincial matter and nobody had the right to intervene. /In fact theoperation has been launched by the federal government and is being led by 2angers a federal

force.

6e said the dispute was caused by an uncalled for delay in e1tension of 2angers/ stay after the

e1piry of legal cover.

IA A-* -AB& +he minister said that after an obection was raised against the ederalInvestigation Agency =IA> in :uly, its director had met the (indh chief minister in the presence

of the Karachi commissioner and a modus operandi for future was decided. 6e said no issue

arose after that, but still it was being alleged that the IA was invading (indh.

6e said the -ational Accountability Bureau =-AB> was an independent institution and did not

act on the directives of the federal government.



+he bureau/s head was appointed as a result of consensus between the government and the PPP

and calling any step against corruption initiated by -AB as the government/s action would beinappropriate and unustified, he added.

haudhry -isar said men belonging to the ';', :amaat<i<Islami, A-P and(unni +ehreek were

also arrested during the Karachi operation, but nobody raised 8uestions over the operation. /Inthe interest of Karachi, (indh and Pakistan, there is a need to take the operation forward and set

aside political differences.

In his hard<hitting speech in the -ational Assembly, Khursheed (hah severely criticised -AB for

what he called /only targeting PPP leaders of (indh/.

/If one goes by the act of -AB it looks as if (indh is the only province where politicians are

corrupt5 the rest of the country is clean. ?ven if corruption is allegedly committed in the

municipality of (anghar district, -AB is 8uick to launch a full<fledged investigation,/ he said.

Acknowledging the fact it was he who as leader of the opposition had agreed to the name ofincumbent -AB hairman haudhry ;amar Daman, he didn/t mince his words in accusing the

anti<corruption watchdog of working at the behest of the federal government.

It took former president Asif Ali Dardari !E long years to get himself e1onerated from cases

which everybody, including media, described as /muk<muka/ =deal>, but do people know that -AB has gone to court challenging the ac8uittal of the PPP leader,/ 'r (hah regrette d.

2eminding the ruling P')<- and -AB of a video clip in which 2ana 'ashhood Ahmad Khan,a minister of the Punab government, was allegedly shown receiving bribe, the opposition leader

said it was 8uite an amusement that nobody had taken notice of that.

In stark contrast, he said, all institutions, with -AB at the top, could see everything badhappening under the sun in (indh.

the Ask a Mexican! column `That is what they are, whether they`re undocumentedor not.

govt, ppp breathe fire as spat scales new heights

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