May 11, 2022
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
Activists have called out Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) for criticising senior politician Nasreen Jalil over the federal government’s decision to appoint the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan stalwart as the second female governor of Sindh province.
PTI leaders Fawad Chaudhary and Imran Ismail criticised the choice of Nasreen Jalil, citing a letter that she wrote to the Indian High Commission in Pakistan and other foreign diplomats over the victimisation of MQM workers in 2015.
“The ‘crime minister’ has proposed the name of Nasreen Jalil as Sindh governor,” tweeted Fawad Chaudhry, former federal Information minister. “On June 15, 2015, the lady wrote a letter to a letter to the Indian High Commission and sought help against Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies. It is sad that the ‘mess’ in Karachi which was cleared by security institutions was being brought again,” Chaudhry also shared an image of the letter written by Nasreen Jalil.
Zohra Yusuf, the former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said the PTI was targeting all who oppose them, including former allies. “There is no rationality in the position they have taken against Nasreen Jalil,” Yusuf told Voicepk. She said the letter to Indian diplomats could be seen as poor judgment but it had become a past issue.
Veteran journalist Ghazi Salahuddin also slammed the PTI leaders over their undue criticism of Nasreen Jalil’s likely appointment to the office of the Sindh governor. “Politicians like Fawad have no respect for either women or any values and principles,” Ghazi Salahuddin said. “Invoking any past action of the current adversary for criticism has ceased to have any meaning when the person making the comment has been a turncoat.”
In a tweet, former governor Imran Ismail also criticised the current government over selecting Nasreen Jalil for the governor’s post saying would she be writing a similar letter to Indian diplomats once she assumed the office of Governor.
MQM SNAPS BACK
In response to the PTI leaders’ criticism, Senator Faisal Subzwari, MQM-Pakistan senior leader and Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs, clarified that the letter was written to all diplomats and not to the Indian High Commission alone.
“It was surely a grave mistake on part of the party office not to exclude the name of the Indian diplomat but the letter had come to light in 2015 with details for all to see. Secondly, Imran Khan torched electricity bills and gave a call for civil obedience. Did he do the same while being a prime minister?” tweeted Faisal Subzwari.
The MQM-P leader questioned whether the former premier and his colleagues had come to know about these things after they were ousted from power.
Nasreen Jalil will be the only female governor after Begum Raana Liaquat Ali Khan who served as the first female governor of Sindh from February 15, 1973 to February 28, 1976.