HYDERABAD: Town and union council (UC) chairmen of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Hyderabad held a press conference at the Hyderabad Press Club on Monday to refute the allegations about the dengue outbreak levelled by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmakers in another press conference on Sunday.
Town Chairmen Bilal Mustafa, Adnan Rashid and Manthar Jatoi along with UC chairmen had gathered at the press club to respond to the MQM-P lawmakers’ press conference. The PPP local government representatives said the MQM-P had resorted to cheap ethnic politics in Sunday’s press conference.
They alleged that the MQM-P was a ‘product of Form 47’, which did not participate in the local government elections due to the fear of defeat. They claimed that the MQM-P was now attempting to gain political mileage by raising a hue and cry over the dengue situation in Hyderabad.
Refuting the allegations that no serious anti-dengue measures had been taken in Hyderabad, the PPP chairmen asserted that the anti-dengue campaign in the city was being carried out under the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the Sindh health department, and fumigation drives were under way under the supervision of elected local representatives.
They added that the MQM-P had been alarmed by the PPP’s performance in the local government as it had achieved little when it controlled the Hyderabad local government. However, the press conference took a tense turn when the PPP representatives lost their composure after being questioned by journalists about dengue-related deaths in Hyderabad.
PPP representative Asif Qaimkhani threatened senior journalist Muhammad Hussain Khan telling him to come outside the press club after the event. Other journalists intervened to defuse the situation. Following the incident, journalists staged a protest against the threats made by the PPP representatives.
It is pertinent to note that Hyderabad has currently been facing a severe dengue outbreak, with dozens of new cases reported on a daily basis and hundreds of patients admitted to local hospitals.
