Pakistan: Punjab govt unconstitutional

Terming the Punjab government unconstitutional, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Punjab President Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo on Saturday said the Sharifs have been found guilty in Asghar Khan case, therefore, they should leave the provincial government. Addressing the party workers at the PPP Punjab Secretariat, Wattoo said the Sharifs should comply with court orders, adding that after the Supreme Court's decision under the articles 62 and 63 of the constitution they should resign from their offices. He also said the SC verdict was thought provoking for the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and it depended on the party's leadership whether they relinquish their posts morally or not. Referring to ex-PM Yousuf Raza Gilani, Wattoo said his party member followed court orders and relinquished his office, adding that Shahbaz Sharif should also act in the same manner. Alleging the Punjab government of misusing the provincial funds, the PPP Punjab president said that the PML-N-led government was spending billions of rupees on political campaigns in by-elections. He demanded that the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of Pakistan take notice of this misappropriation. He said no political party was ready to forge alliance with the PML-N owing to the attitude of the party leadership. Wattoo said he was a proud claimant of a unique political history of defeating PML-N twice in Punjab and he also subdued PML-N in the recently held AJK elections, expressing the hope that the PPP would defeat PML-N in the next general elections as well. The PPP Punjab president challenged that the PPP and the PML-Q would defeat the PML-N in Punjab in the upcoming general elections. "Days are not far when the egoistic Sharifs will have to go to workers after they quit PML-N and join PPP," he added. Wattoo said his former colleagues, who had worked with him in 1993, would soon desert the PML-N and come into the PPP fold. He said he would announce new executive council in Punjab after consultation with the party leadership and the workers, adding that a new PPP Punjab secretariat would also be inaugurated soon. He said the new secretariat would work day and night to resolve workers' problems, assuring the workers that their siblings will be preferred in jobs quota. On the occasion, PPP Punjab General Secretary Tanveer Ashraf Kaira, Labour Bureau Chairman Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, Munir Ahmed Khan, Usman Malik, Iqbal Sialvi, Ajmal Hashmi, PSF and PYO office-bearers and a large number of party workers were present. Earlier on his arrival at the party office, PPP workers and provincial leaders gave him a warm reception.