ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari yesterday said he was concerned over the law and order situation in Balochistan.

He said in these extraordinary times when the whole country was falling victim to a disastrous immunity policy, the least that a provincial government can do is to keep law and order under control and not make itself controversial on that front.

“If the authorities had acted promptly and arrested the culprits of this tragedy immediately, there would have been no outrage and protests throughout the province. Citizens only took to the streets once it was obvious that the authorities were not interested in prosecuting and bringing perpetrators of such heinous crime to justice,” he said.

The PPP Chairman said that the suffering of young Bramsh is beyond imagination. “Mere words cannot heal her wounds. No child — no matter how young or old — should have to bear the loss of a mother. The least we can do is punish the culprits. If there is no justice and if her mother’s killers remain free, it will be a grave injustice to young Bramsh.”

He said that the Baloch have been through agony over the decades due to injustices. “The PPP tried its best to resolve some issues through the 18th Amendment. But such tragedies highlight the apathy of the authorities towards the Baloch. We must make them answerable.” Meanwhile, PPP leaders Nafisa Shah, Rubina Khalid and Nazir Dhoki said that the government was ignoring the coronavirus issue.

Speaking at a news conference here, they said the number of Covid-19 patients had reached over 100,000 and over 2,000 people had lost their lives but Prime Minister Imran Khan was totally insensitive towards the pandemic and it was ironic that PM refused to wear mask but asked people to take precautions.

They said that number of cases had more than doubled just in 10 days since the lockdown was relaxed on the orders of PM Imran Khan. “Prime minister is not only PM of Nathia Gali but the whole Pakistan and should take everyone along with him after devising a unanimous policy,” Nafisa Shah said.

She said that Shahzad Akbar had no legal authority to deal with accountability issues as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was supposed to be a free institution and the courts should take notice of his gibberish about accountability. They said that price hike is all time high and inflation has touched 15% in the country.

The PPP leader said that the Covid-19 package has not been brought before the parliament so how the government will prepare its budget for the next fiscal year. “No meeting of health committee and finance committee of parliament was held,” she added.

Nafisa Shah said that 9300 employees of Pakistan Steel Mills have been made unemployed with a stroke of pen but PPP will fight till end for the rights of the PSM employees.

Rubina Khalid strongly condemned the baseless accusation by a US citizen on the PPP leadership.

She said Benazir Bhutto was the woman Prime Minister of the Muslim world and the US citizen Cynthia D Richie’s concocted and baseless accusation are shameful for the accuser.

“She should be ashamed of her own accusations, they said. All the other PPP leaders will take legal action against her. They asked on what kind of visa has been issued to Cynthis and who has issued that visa and why. Who is financing and supporting her. Cynthia D Richie is a member of PTI social media team,” Rubina Khalid said.

She added: “The sugar commission report is meaningless as the main culprit has already fled the country. The main culprit and beneficiary of sugar scandal is Prime Minister himself.”