PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said Sindh required immediate relief and assistance and hoped that Prime Minister Imran Khan would announce a package for the entire province during his upcoming visit to Karachi, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
He said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had shared the details of Rs802.39 billion development programme for Karachi a day earlier and the Centre should contribute an equal or double amount for the purpose.
Expressing his views and reply to different questions at a press conference in Karachi, Bilawal said the people of Mirpurkhas, Umarkot and Badin too were facing great hardships after the record-breaking rains.
Crops and businesses had been destroyed in the affected region, he said and added that the rains had shattered the 100-year record.
He said the central governments around the world provided assistance to regional governments in case of natural disasters. “Everyone is looking towards the federal government after this disaster,” he maintained.
Desilting three nullahs won’t work, Bilawal remarked and noted that providing relief was a responsibility of NDMA which, he added, had provided 2,000 tents to the province.
About the statements issued by some PTI leaders who said that no money would be given to Sindh, he remarked that the resources belonged to the people and should be spent on them, adding that it wasn’t owned by someone’s family.
The PPP chairman said the small businesses too badly need a special package for which the Centre must move forward. Rains and flood worsened the situation after locusts and the coronavirus pandemic, he mentioned.
He also called for reversing the decision to increase the electricity tariff and resolving the loadshedding issue in Karachi and other areas of Sindh. It was not fair to multiple the burden of the people, Bilawal remarked.
About the issue of CPEC Authority Chairman Asim Bajwa, the PPP chairman said the same standards propagated by the PTI against others should be applied to everyone, not just to the PPP or the PML-N government members.
He also cited the matters of Justice Faez Isa and Shahzad Akbar as well as the Toshakhana and assets beyond means cases against former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP leader Khursheed Shah respectively to prove his point.
Why cases only against the PPP and PML-N leaders on the basis of newspaper reports, he remarked.
On the occasion, Bilawal thanked PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa for visiting and expressing solidarity with the people of Karachi.