Shahbaz Sharif is busy playing “flood politics” at government expense: Moonis Elahi

Lahore (August 30, 2010) Moonis Elahi, senior central leader of Pakistan Muslim League has said that Shahbaz Government should immediately be restricted from squandering huge public funds and resources desperately required for flood victims on personal publicity. While Shahbaz Sharif is busy playing “flood politics” at government expense the teeming millions struck by the country’s worst floods have been left to the vagaries of floods and the whims of N League’s MNAS and MPAS who are sitting on flood aid like serpents. Most of the aid for Punjab flood victims is not reaching the true beneficiaries. The announcement of Rs. 20,000 per flood victim family is nothing more than a practical joke. The minimum compensation per family should be Rs. 500,000. Moonis Elahi expressed these views today in Lahore during a meeting with party leaders.

In his address, Moonis Elahi strongly condemned the current publicity campaign of the Punjab Chief Minister and dubbed it as a criminal use of several million public rupees on personal promotion. He remarked that at a time when there were countless Pakistani men, women and children waiting for help the wastage of huge public funds on self or family promotion was a highly condemnable act of Shahbaz Government. He said that despite all its “flood politics” coming out of the tax payer’s pocket Shahbaz Government had failed to make any worthwhile impression on the mass mind.

Moonis Elahi alleged that because of his abuse of power and government resources there was now an even greater resentment against the incumbent Punjab Chief Minister than before. He said that presently his ability to handle crises was being seriously questioned by not just the general public but also by the Punjab CM’s own cabinet colleagues. Moonis Elahi said that at a time when the country and the province were going through an unprecedented trial Shahbaz Government was deliberately shunning the call for an emergent Punjab Assembly session on flood as it feared a massive criticism of the house.

Suicides on the rise in Punjab due to rulers’ incompetence : Moonis Elahi

(Lahore, June 19, 2010) A pall of gloom and morbidity has enshrouded Punjab since the return of the Sharifs in 2008.The alarming rise of suicide incidents in Punjab is the direct result of the province’s economic ruin brought about by Sharif “mal-administration” in the last two and a half years. How can the poor and the jobless survive when the budgeted personal daily expenses of the self-proclaimed “Khadim –e- Aala” are well over Rs.7 lacs? Sasti-roti drama has created further hunger and deprivation in the society. These views were expressed by Moonis Elahi, central leader of Pakistan Muslim League, during a meeting with members of PML Human Rights Wing in Lahore today.

The meeting was summoned to discuss the implications of the rising number of suicides in Punjab and to explore ways for the eradication of the causes leading to this unfortunate development. Commenting on the issue, Moonis Elahi strongly criticized the rulers and held them solely responsible for the unfortunate trend. He said that Punjab was the hardest hit and the highest number of suicide incidents had been reported in Punjab in the last six months. Moonis Elahi blamed Shahbaz government for the rising pessimism in the masses forcing some of them to take their own lives.

He said that N League had made false promises with the people at election time and in the last two and half years they had given them nothing except poverty, unemployment, inflation, crimes and now suicides. The present system of governance in Punjab is based on the whims and caprices of one man which had also seriously weakened the relationship between the citizen and the state, Moonis observed.

He said that in Punjab under the coercive Sharif regime citizens’ rights were being usurped, nepotism and jobbery were the order of the day and provincial resources were being squandered on poorly planned and counter-productive schemes. Criticising the roti scheme, Moonis said that N League’s government instead of launching the much needed poverty reduction initiatives had so far only come up with poverty production schemes like the roti scheme. They have not paid a paisa of Zakat fund to the needy and it is evident that they want the proud people of Punjab to hold a begging bowl instead of hammer, chisel or pen, he alleged. He stated that these factors compounded with the self-proclaimed Khadim-e-Ala’s incapacity to understand the gravity of the situation had resulted in wide spread depression and dismay in the fast growing numbers of poor and jobless of the province.

He said that the present situation had made the poor and the weak highly vulnerable and prone to take extreme steps including self-annihilation. He warned of a further worsening of the situation if the rulers did not wake up from their slumber and started undoing the extremely adverse effects of their own follies.