HYDERABAD: Delivering his presidential address at a convention of workers here on Sunday, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) chief Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi, who is the spiritual leader of the Hur Jamaat and also heads the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), said that the army should take over the country for five or eight years to bring all criminals and plunderers of the national exchequer to justice.

Pir Rashdi argued that when the army was called in to deal with every small and big issue, then why should not it be assigned the task of cleansing the country of all evils by ruling over it for a specified period. Let them take over the country for a few years to put things on the right track, he said.

He said that a friend of his late father had advised him after the Dec 2012 public meeting in Hyderabad not to waste money in the [2013] general elections given the fact that the results had already been decided.

“You all should remember that whenever elections are held, and I don’t say they will be held in 2018, you will win,”he addressing the GDA leaders and supporters declared.

He threw his weight behind former president Gen Pervez Musharraf, who is facing treason charges, by saying that he was not a traitor. “If an army chief is a traitor, then who is loyal?”

He said that [slain Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson] Benazir Bhutto’s assassination was a great loss but a greater loss to Mr Musharraf as he was to continue as president for the next five years after the 2008 elections had she remained alive.

Pir Rashdi insisted that the 2013 poll were rigged. He recalled that the then army chief had visited the Election Commission of Pakistan although it was not his job. Had the army chief and chief justice of Pakistan taken a stand, the elections results would have been fair, he added.

He said he supported [Prime Minister] Nawaz Sharif unconditionally after his party’s victory only to support federation but after becoming the prime minister Mr Sharif dealt with Sindh differently.

He said Panama Papers leaks were a tip of iceberg as billions and trillions were kept elsewhere. The United States and European Union have been making laws since 2010 to check the money being used for terror financing and 146 countries were the signatories of such a document, he said, adding that if the Pakistan government wrote a letter for an inquiry, no one who owned ill-gotten money would no more be able to keep it. He said that if the looted money was brought back to the country, it could be used in the development sector for eight to 10 years. “Let the army to take over the country to bring all thieves and criminals to justice,” he remarked.

He did not rule out an adventure by [Indian Prime Minister] Narendra Modi against Pakistan as he knew that he was ruling over India for the first and last time.

The GDA chief observed that the Rangers had succeeded in curbing 80 per cent of crime in Karachi and hopefully they would launch a similar operation in other parts of Sindh.

GDA spokesman and chief of the Qaumi Awami Tehreek Ayaz Latif Palijo asked PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to tell the masses as to what they had given to Sindh over the last eight years. He said that farmers were not getting the right price of their produce.

He said that it was the PPP that had signed an agreement with the establishment leading to amnesty under the national reconciliation ordinance (NRO). He said the [PPP founder chairman] Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had also signed a deal with the establishment after pushing Shaikh Mujeebur Rehman against the wall.

He criticised Mr Sharif for giving nothing to Sindh and demanded holding of fresh elections in Sindh. He claimed that billions were buried in the houses and guest rooms of various provincial ministers but NAB and FIA were not discharging their duties.

Speaking at the convention, Dr Zulfikar Mirza said that elections in Badin were an example for everyone. [MNA] Faryal Talpur and Asif Zardari could not do anything if people showed bravery. He said people should come forward under the leadership of Pir Pagara to protect the honour of Sindh. He said that the Kalabagh dam project was again being talked about and if the so called “policy of reconciliation” was allowed to continued, then the proponents of the dam would succeed.

Resolutions

The convention passed several resolutions, one of them declaring that the PPP had no moral or political reason to rule over Sindh after rigging the 2013 general elections and 2015 local government polls.

“The GDA demands fair elections in Sindh afresh in the larger interest of the people of Pakistan in order to hand over powers to true public representatives,” another resolution said.

Through other resolution, the convention called for adequate prices to be fixed for agriculture commodities; jobs and development projects to Sindh; an end to water shortage and loadshedding in the province, arrest of ministers and lawmakers involved in massive corruption; and across the board action to check corruption and terrorism.

Former chief ministers Syed Ghous Ali Shah, Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Liaquat Jatoi, MPAs Nusrat Sehar Abbasi and Mehtab Akbar Rashdi, as sell as Ameer Bukhsh Bhutto, Pir Sadaruddin Shah, Zafar Ali Shah and Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi also spoke.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2016