Pakistan: Nawaz's Saudi Arabia tour

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Punjab Secretary General Tanvir Ashraf Kaira has said that Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Saudi Arabia shows his non-seriousness on internal national issues, especially the ongoing Zarb-e-Azb military operation in North Waziristan Agency.

In a statement on Tuesday, the PPP leader said that Prime Minister Nawaz was away on a foreign tour for about two weeks suggesting that pressing problems facing the country at present do not deserve his constant attention and physical presence in the country. He said that Pakistan was fighting the war of its survival and its PM’s absence from the country for a longer period of time could not be condoned by any measure. “This cannot be justified when the country is in a state of war because the scourge of terrorism and extremism is a grave threat to the security of the country,” he added.

He said that the performance of religious rituals was important but the PM should return to the country after a couple of days and give direction to deal with the emerging situation as the country was fighting a war that needed his presence to take immediate important decisions regarding the ongoing military operation.

Kaira opined that the PM’s departure reportedly for two weeks to a foreign country also gives the impression of his abdication of responsibilities to very important national issues with deep-rooted implications for the security of the country. He suggested that the PM should cut short his visit and come back to assume the leading role of taking decisions because he was the elected chief executive of the country and accountable to the people and the Parliament.

Kaira said that issues of internally displaced persons, electricity outages, poverty and non-availability of civic amenities to the people had made their lives miserable and the PM was required to assure them with full seriousness that he was cognisant of their plight and was taking concrete steps to mitigate their sufferings.

Kaira also observed that Prime Minister Nawaz’s absence from the country would not bode well for the people whose hopes of better days during this government were dwindling fast.