PML-N’s Nusrat Abbasi, PPP’s Kulsoom Chandio trade barbs in SA over budget

Pakistan Muslim League-F (PML-F) MPA Nusrat Sehar Abbasi took on the Pakistan People’s Party leaders and the Sindh government in an explosive speech in the Sindh Assembly on Monday. “A woman in Kandkot gave birth in a trash bin. The child died because of a lack of oxygen there. This is what has been happening in Sindh. But the women leaders of the PPP go abroad to give birth so their child could have a different nationality,” she claimed. She alleged that funds worth Rs22 billion have been allocated for Thatta and Sujawal but children still travel there on donkey carts. “The people of Sindh are being treated unjustly for the last 12 years. I beg you [the PPP government] to please leave Sindh alone.” The Grand Health Alliance has been protesting outside the Karachi Press Club. AzraPechucho, the provincial health minister, should be replaced if she can’t work. “Why has Zardari’s sister been forced upon the people of Sindh?”She claimed that many political leaders have cursed and disrespected her. The women who have been cursing me travel abroad using the funds from NGOs, Abbasi alleged. “Am I not a daughter of Sindh too?”“We ask the chief justice and army chief to help us get justice,” she added. KulsoomChandio, a PPP MPA, took the assembly floor and said that the Sindh government has presented a good budget. The PTI, on the other hand, has given an IMF budget. “We condemn the sacking of the Pakistan Steel Mills employees.”Abbasi, however, interrupted her speech and remarked that Chandio should only focus on Sindh. “They [the PPP government] are trying to misguide people by lying to them.”Chandio responded by saying that Abbasi has claimed that the Sindh government is incompetent. “We have been doing practical work.” She remarked that PML-F leader should be thrown out of the assembly. “I will not let her speak like this,” said Abbasi. “She is cursing me.”Chandio said that Abbasi should not be allowed to speak as she has no political standing. God has given me a voice and I will use it, especially when it comes to ‘horses and donkeys’ such as yourself, Abbasi remarked.Mukesh Kumar, another PPP leader, requested Abbasi to stay quiet and observed the decorum of the assembly.