ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Saturday criticised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his decision to take Punjab Chief Shahbaz Sharif only with him on official visits, saying it would aggravate sense of deprivation among the other federating units of the country.
MNA Dr Shireen Mazari, central information secretary PTI, condemning the PM's decision said that family connections should not have priority over a sense of equality in dealing with all four provinces. She asked why the chief ministers of the other three provinces were not asked to accompany the PM when the CM Punjab was asked to do so. She asserted that such a bias against other three provinces would only aggravate the sense of deprivation, which was extremely harmful for inter-provincial harmony.
Mazari also noted, "Behind the facade of democracy what we are seeing in Pakistan is a plutocracy where familial ties and kinships dictate appointments and distribution of parliamentary tickets instead of merit." This then perpetuates a weak parliamentary democracy where accountability is at best discriminatory and where nepotism overrides merit, she added. She maintained that PTI was committed to ending this and asserting merit and justice at every level of governance and the political system.