HYDERABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party information secretary Senator Maula Bux Chandio has accused Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government of making the joint investigation team (JIT) report [on fake accounts and money laundering references] controversial. “PPP will defend its leadership in court; JIT has become a modern tool against rulers,” he told a press conference in the Defence area of Hyderabad on Tuesday.
He said that nobody knew about the JIT’s findings two months back but [Federal Information Minister] Fawad Chaudhry had discussed it then. “This has made the JIT controversial,” he said. He claimed that PTI didn’t win the [July 25] elections on its own and observed that it did not want to run the government. “History is witness to the fact that even non-entities had become prime ministers in the country. True leaders are still alive in the hearts and minds of people. Artificial leadership has never been durable.”
Expressing his reservations over findings of the JIT, Mr. Chandio said its report was merely a formality and the actual matter was pending in court. He called for setting up of JITs against Jehangir Tareen, Zulfi Bukhari, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister.
He observed that JIT had become PTI. He said that he wanted to know whether PTI existed in Sindh. He recalled that those who did not have the national identity card had become prime minister in the past.
Mr. Chandio alleged said that the JIT report was issued on someone’s wish and PPP chairman ‘smartly fitted’ [in its scope]. He said he believed an identical report would be prepared in future. He said that those who were allies of [former military ruler Pervez] Musharraf and [convicted prime minister] Nawaz Sharif had joined PTI. In a country where democracy is “controlled”, the government would not be able to come up with a policy and would commit mistakes.
He pointed out that no headway could be seen on [improving] the accountability law, and said it was due to the intransigence of Nawaz Sharif. He stressed that legislation was required for true accountability. He said that [former interior minister] Chaudhry Nisar Ali had raised the issue of Ayyan Ali [a model facing money laundering charge] but one must know whereabouts of Chaudhry Nisar himself today. He said that institutions were never wrong but it was one’s aspirations to run them in line with one’s wish.
The PPP Senator said that even in worst of times, nobody had raised the point of leadership in PPP and not even when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto were killed. “Had Asif Zardari not saved PPP, he would not have been facing enemies today,” he said, adding: “Bilawal Bhutto is the leader [chairman] though there is no question over stature of Sanam Bhutto”.
Mr. Chandio said that the man whose maternal grandfather and mother remained prime ministers was being asked to account for his expenses.
He said that anti-people decisions or those given on someone’s demand were never accepted by masses.
He said that Z.A. Bhutto was still alive but nobody knew Anwarul Haq today. He said that on Anwarul Haq’s decision, Bhutto was dubbed by many as the murderer.