CM Sindh should talk to PM Imran instead of media: Firdous Awan

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Broadcasting and Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Monday criticised Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, ratcheting up tensions between the centre and the province a day after PTI ministers held a 'fault-finding' press conference.

Addressing the media after the National Coordination Committee's (NCC) meeting earlier today, Dr Awan said CM Shah should talk to Prime Minister Imran Khan instead of speaking to "the media screens".

"The chief minister should stop lapping up everything good and rejecting the negatives and any critique coming his way," she said, adding that if he had any advice, he should have offered it during the NCC meeting.

The special assistant noted that the CM had expressed his reservations before the meeting even started. "He is running his own show and refuses to cooperate.

'Inform the federal government'

"The chief minister continuously makes media appearances to level allegations at the federal government. If Sindh government requires anything, it should inform the federal government," she added.

"The chief minister of Sindh should talk to PM Imran Khan instead of media screens," she stated.

Read more: PTI leaders lash out at Sindh govt over coronavirus measures

Dr Awan said PM Imran Khan was fighting on two fronts at the moment: the first one to defeat coronavirus and the second against unemployment resulting from the lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which has so far infected close to 5,500 people across Pakistan, with Punjab leading at almost 2,700 cases.

CM Shah, she said, had asked the premier for time to reopen some industries and the latter had agreed. PM Imran said the provincial governments should work on possible standard operating procedures (SOPs), she added.

'Don’t want to engage in politicking'

A day prior, Federal Water Resources Minister Faisal Vawda had lashed out at the government of Sindh, saying its "incompetence" had caused the number of coronavirus cases to rise.

Criticising the provincial government over its move to seal 12 union councils in Karachi, Vawda had said: "How can the government seal 12 UCs? People will come out on the streets.

"I don’t want to engage in politicking at such a time but I had no choice. I assure the residents of Karachi that the PTI stands with them," he had said. “Where is the Rs2 billion that was given to help the people? The people are dying of hunger!”

The criticism from PTI was made after the number of cases in Sindh rose to 1,411 on Sunday, with two new deaths, but Punjab still led at 2,464 cases of the country's total of more than 5,200 — at that time.

Lax attitude

Federal Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Haider Zaidi and Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi — both from the ruling PTI — had criticised the PPP over its lax attitude towards Sindh's health sector.

Zaidi had said health was the provincial governments' responsibility after the 18th Amendment. "No ventilator is available in hospitals in upper Sindh and only two isolation centres are established.

Also read: PTI, PPP lock horns over coronavirus response in Sindh

"PPP could have established a state-of-the-art hospital for the people of the upper region," he had said. "The government is taking decisions without homework and then takes them back. Industries are open in US and Europe.”

The provincial government had hit back at the centre later the same day, with Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani alleging the federal government was creating obstacles "at the behest of the prime minister" instead of lending a helping hand.

'Blind to Punjab's problems'

The PTI leaders "are becoming obstacles to work" on the response against the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghani had said, responding to a "fault-finding" press conference by the ruling party's ministers.

While they should be "helpful, PTI leaders are becoming obstacles to the work," he had said. PM Imran "has let them loose to become hurdles in Sindh government’s work", he had added.

Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab, while addressing Vawda, had asked: "Have the governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa brought the situation under control?

'Sindh-government phobia'

"The minister raising a hue and cry over the non-availability of food to people in Sindh seems to be blind to Punjab's problems," he had said. "KP's hospitals paint a very sorry picture of the government's neglect.

"The prime minister's team suffers from a Sindh-government phobia," Wahab had noted, adding that the Sindh government cared for its people, whereas the PTI ministers, "like always, are the worst enemies of the people".

On the other hand, Sindh Information Minister Nasir Shah had regretted the duplicity in the PTI ministers' thinking when it came to sealing off of areas. "When Lahore's union councils are sealed off, there is nothing but praise for the decision. When Karachi's union councils were cordoned off, there was only criticism," Shah had highlighted.

Centre sent kits 'not fit for clinical examination'

The information minister had also questioned the wisdom behind having people gather to collect funds when that could be the biggest source of spread for the virus, adding that if the situation aggravated, the prime minister and his ministers would be the ones to blame.

In a subsequent development later in the night, Wahab, the Sindh government spokesperson, had pointed out that the quality of kits sent by the federal government was such that they were "not fit for clinical examination".

Sharing images of text accompanying the kits, he had said the batches of 3,000 and then 17,000 kits sent "were of no use" since they did not contain the VTMs and swabs necessary to conduct tests.

The federal government "should be ashamed for what you people have done and what you preach", he had stressed.