HYDERABAD: The Sindh chapter of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has reacted angrily over issuance of a notice to party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference.

PPP Sindh president Nisar Khuhro condemned the NAB move and warned it against resorting to such “third degree tactics”.

Chairing the general council meeting of the party’s Hyderabad district chapter at the residence of its district president here late on Sunday evening, Mr Khuhro said that the party leadership and cadre considered issuance of the notice “a vindictive action”.

“Such actions are forcing PPP workers to start agitation against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government,” he warned.

Khuhro threatens agitation against PTI govt

He said the prime minister was making state institutions controversial by stating that they [the institutions] were supportive of his party’s manifesto.

Mr Khuhro told party workers that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari would address them on Dec 15 in Hyderabad. He expressed the hope that workers would accord him a historic welcome like they had done on Oct 18 last year.

At the gathering, he said, party workers would renew their resolve that they were with the party leadership.

PPP information secretary Moula Bux Chandio said that party workers were proud of their co-chairman. He recalled that it was during Mr Zardari’s tenure as head of the state that the 1973 Constitution was restored and provinces got autonomy.

He said now the PTI government was victimising Mr Zardari, who had already remained imprisoned for 11 years in “false” cases.

He noted that similar forces were out to keep Mr Zardari away from politics. PPP workers would not let this conspiracy being hatched by anti-democratic, anti-Pakistan forces succeed, he added.

He pointed out that the PTI government was not ready to take action against Aleema Khan, the prime minister’s sister, whereas opposition parties’ leaderships were being harassed with false cases.

Sindh Minister for Works and Services Nasir Shah said that it would be Asif Zardari’s first visit to Hyderabad to meet party workers. He would be accorded a historic welcome, he said.

He assured the audience that the Sindh government would not let any unjust action happen in the name of encroachments’ removal. He accused the PTI [federal] government and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) of committing excesses against people in the name of anti-encroachment operation.

Observing that only the poor were suffering due to the operation, Mr Shah pointed out that the Sindh government had already filed a review petition in the apex court against the ongoing drive to put an end to these “excesses”. He said the affected people would be provided alternative places in compensation.

Syed Ali Nawaz Shah and Saghir Qureshi also spoke.

MNA Hussain Tariq Shah, Dost Ali Jaisar, Ali Mohammad Sahito, Ahsan Abro and other activists were among those present at the gathering.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2018