Our Correspondent
Hyderabad
PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday lashed out at the federal government for “trying to occupy Karachi” following Law Minister Farogh Naseem’s statement that the centre was considering taking over the administrative affairs of the metropolis through a little-known constitutional provision.
“You try to build a narrative against [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi, saying that he unconstitutionally captured occupied Kashmir, and at the same time you try to occupy Karachi. This is bizarre,” Bilawal said in his press conference. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan, “who has vowed to protect human rights in [occupied] Kashmir, has ripped apart democratic rights of the people of Pakistan.
“You want to run Karachi from Islamabad?” he asked. Addressing the media in Hyderabad, Bilawal said that the PPP, which is the ruling party in Sindh, “will never accept any conspiracy” against the province.
“According to the Constitution, the province that produces a resource is entitled to utilise it before providing it to the rest of the country,” the PPP chief said, referring to Sindh government’s longstanding complaint that the province, despite producing natural gas, was not receiving its due share.
The federal government is trying to provide gas produced in Sindh to the rest of the country and wants the province’s residents to use expensive LNG gas imported from Qatar, Bilawal alleged.
If the federal government “continues to weaken democratic powers in the country, oppresses its people, steals their human rights and on top of that, tries to occupy their land and city, do you think that your country will survive?” Bilawal said.
