BADIN: The Sindh chapter of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and former home minister Zulfikar Ali Mirza on Sunday vowed to launch a joint struggle against corruption across Sindh.

Speaking at a press conference at Qatar Masjid here on Sunday, Sindh JUI-F general secretary Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soomro and Dr Mirza said that the party and Dr Mirza’s close associates would hold a series of joint meetings in all cities and towns of the province to evolve a strategy to launch a vigorous campaign against corrupt elements, including those sitting in the Sindh government and bureaucracy.

They observed that the aim of the struggle was getting the masses their due rights “usurped by the successive governments in the province”.

They said that corrupt rulers, as well as bureaucrats and other officials, had long been plundering Sindh’s kitty and resources leaving nothing for the general public. Inefficient and incompetent officials had almost destroyed the province, they added.

“During the joint campaign, the masses would be informed of the corrupt elements’ misdeeds and mobilise them for a revolution change in the power corridors,” they said.

Maulana Soomro claimed that 90 per cent of the kutcha area in the province had been flooded and its population displaced but functionaries of the Sindh government were found nowhere. Thousands of marooned people had been waiting for relief agencies’ volunteers to move to safe places for more than a week but most of them would have to survive on their own as they had been left at the mercy of nature, he said.

“The people of Sindh are fed up with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and will never vote for it again,” he claimed.

Dr Mirza told journalists that he had joined hands with the JUI-F in a fight against corruption and patrons of corrupt elements. He said former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister MNA Faryal Talpur had fled the country to escape accountability. “They may not return home until the ongoing operation against corruption is under way,” he said.

Dr Mirza urged the federal government and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) accelerate pace of drive against corrupt elements and stop more suspects to leave the country. “Many have managed to escape and many others are trying to follow suit. If swift action is not taken in this regard, all of them may manage to dodge the lawenforcement agencies,” he warned.The former home minister alleged that all funds released by the Sindh government, especially those relating to flood, rain emergency, relief and rescue, rehabilitation of flooded areas and flood-hit people etc had already been misappropriated by ministers, officials and their associates, most of them belonging to the PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

He urged the authorities concerned to give a freehand to investigators in their job.

Claiming that Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah was helpless, he advised people not to expect any assistance from him.He repeated his allegation that MQM chief Altaf Hussain was a conspirator working against Pakistan’s integrity and security in league with the Indian spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Maulana Soomro and Dr Mirza held an hour-long one-to-one meeting after which they said a number of issues were discussed and they agreed to make joint efforts to deal with them.

However, they added, the issues and agreed upon strategy would be made public gradually.

In reply to a question about the JUI-F’s strange move to go for an association with Dr Mirza and his aides, the two leaders argued that “when the PPP and MQM can form a league to plunder Sindh’s wealth, then why we cannot become allies for the noble cause of saving the province”.

They said their association was for a bright future of Sindh.

After the press conference, Maulana Soomro presided over a meeting of his party’s provincial, district and other leadership and took them into confidence over the joint struggle against corruption.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2015

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