Zardari should help IDPs with own offshore money: Ch. Shujaat Hussain

* Shujaat criticises govt for not anticipating internal displacement

* Asks govt to talk to Baloch leaders ‘in Dubai, Kabul or India

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain asked President Asif Zardari in a press conference on Sunday to bring his offshore money into Pakistan to help the internally displaced persons (IDPs) instead of asking other countries for help. Accompanied by Khursheed Kasuri and Amir Muqam, Shujaat criticised the Pakistan People’s Party-led government on its failure to anticipate the displacement ahead of the military operation against the Taliban in Malakand division.

He said the participation of the public was essential to providing relief goods to the IDPs, and that his party would participate in the relief and rehabilitation efforts the way it did after the 2005 earthquake in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP. Shujaat said he had met the Imam of Kaaba in Saudi Arabia and that he had expressed his desire to visit Swat and meet the IDPs. Mushahid said law and order was worsening in Balochistan and that the problems in the province could only be resolved by following the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on Balochistan. The recommendations contained a ‘road map’ that included withdrawal of cases against Baloch leaders, he added. “Balochistan requires a healing touch,” he said, adding that the government should talk to the Baloch whether they are in Kabul, Dubai or India.

PML-Q NWFP President Amir Muqam criticised the PPP and the Awami National Party over the handing of the issue of the IDPs, and said the top leaders of both the parties were not in Pakistan when the full-scale military operation was launched. He said the government should have made arrangements for the IDPs before launching the operation, and asked it to move the displaced people in government-owned buildings instead of camps. In response to a question, Muqam said the government should fully implement the recommendations of the All-Parties Conference (APC) if it wants to make the event meaningful.