ISLAMABAD - The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday said that Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leadership only wanted to increase its political stature and hide its failures in Sindh by making allegations against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Reacting to the press conference of Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Minister for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed, said that the “son of Asif Ali Zardari” was blaming PTI when his entire family was involved in taking kickbacks and corruption.

Addressing a press conference, he alleged that Bilawal became a politician on a “chit” and the ruling party understood that he was upset because his party has had to answer questions pointed out in the Joint Investigation Report (JIT) on the chief of defunct Peoples Amn Committee, Uzair Baloch.

He said that PTI accepts the challenge of Bilawal for a debate on governance and other issues of public importance. “We are ready for debate of his (Bilawal) own choice of topic and place,” he said, adding that whether this discussion should be in the Parliament, in a public gathering, or before media. He said that they would hold the debate so that the nation could understand the difference between “those politicians who have come on a chit and who were political workers.”

Saeed further said that they were hopeful that Bilawal would not evade queries as he usually used to do in the Parliament. “He doesn’t dare to hear about his government’s performance in the Parliament.”

He said that they were expecting answers from him about the JIT but he again levelled charges against the ruling party.

He said that PTI would give answers as it had been ruling in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the last seven years, but PPP would have to answer about its “misdeeds” for the last 40 years since it had been ruling Sindh.

The federal minister alleged that PPP leadership used to run its household affairs from the money earned through corruption. To conceal all this corruption, Bilawal even in the presser asked media “be a man.”

“If someone had come through a democratic way or remained a political worker, he knew that they (politicians) are answerable to people, the nation and the media,” he said. He added that it was the beauty of democracy that everyone has to answer questions. “PTI believes in freedom of expression and we stand by journalists and media houses.”

The minister, a close aide to PM, alleged that the PPP leadership stuffed their own accounts, through fake accounts scandal, from money meant for the development and poverty alleviation in Sindh while children were dying in Thar. “They even celebrate birthday parties, and run their household expenses through the money of fake accounts, and (air) tickets of son of Zaradri and model Ayan Ali are also paid from the same account.”

He said that the Supreme Court had declared PM Imran Khan as Sadiq and Amin. The report of Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) for the first year of PTI in government has reported that there is 98 percent decrease in irregularities as compared to the previous years, he claimed.

While talking about state-owned enterprises he alleged that PIA, Pakistan Steel Mills, and Pakistan Railways began to run into losses during the last regimes of PPP and PML-N. “We are bringing reforms in them,” he said adding that both parties ruined state institutions.

Talking about tackling coronavirus; the federal minister said PM Imran Khan has said from the first day that the people have to be saved from disease and poverty. PPP government and Bilawal had been saying that no one would die from poverty, but international reports were different from their stance. PM brought the concept of smart lockdown and this model remained successful, he added.

The minister said that PTI’s smart lockdown strategy remained successful and PPP was now upset that Pakistan’s economy survived and the death rate remained low.

He claimed that the JIT on fake bank accounts revealed that Sindh CM Syed Murad Ali Shah was a front man of co-chairman PPP Asif Ali Zardari. In the other JIT, Uzair Baloch says that he helped Zardari for illegal occupation of 14 sugar mills, and had 30 to 40 bungalows vacated around Bilawal House for purchase at low rates. He said that killings and abductions in Karachi had been carried out on the instructions of PPP, the police were misused and sugar mill owners were deprived of their properties because of harassment and intimidation tactics used by the party leadership.

He alleged that PPP’s Sindh government has failed to overcome coronavirus because incompetent people were sitting over there.

The minister said that PTI government announced development packages for Karachi and approved development schemes of elected Parliamentarians but PPP’s provincial government got stay orders from court.

“You become upset when we gave money to the people through Ehsaas Progamme because you wanted to get commissions.”

He said that the whole world is talking about the Kashmir issue due to the efforts of the PTI government. He said that those who claimed to take the Kashmir issue seriously had handed over the Kashmir Committee to JUI-F chief Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman for political dealings.