LARKANA: Pakistan Peoples Party-Workers president Dr Safdar Abbasi has said that the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) will soon send “bogus” PPP packing from Sindh and urged the Centre to think over the possibility.
“We are watching what role Imran Khan’s government will play in this regard in Sindh,” he said at a workers’ convention at Kot Darab Khan in Waleed on Thursday.
He held PPP responsible for destroying Sindh and said that no city or town from Kashmore to Karachi had been spared. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s father had been plundering Sindh’s wealth for 10 years but change had become inevitable now, he said.
Pakistan Muslim League-Functional chief Pir Pagaro, who is also head of GDA, said that PPP had pumped billions of rupees into elections to get desired results. “We complained about massive irregularities in last general election at that time but in vain,” he said.
When even the party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto could not obtain such heavy mandate in Sindh then what was so special about Asif Ali Zardari who had outdone them in total number of votes polled for the party, he asked.
He said that Mr Zardari had sold even jobs of sanitary workers and gobbled up the money thus amassed. The PPP of the past had been replaced by the new one in which party leaders were becoming approvers against Zardari, he said.
He said how could Prime Minister Imran Khan clear the mess of 10 years within eight months. GDA would have to prepare for local bodies election and reorganise the alliance down to union council level to get better results in the polls, he said.
He criticised Sindh government for its failure to purchase wheat from growers and said that it was not the fault of Imran Khan; it was happening because of flawed policies of Sindh government that growers were not getting reasonable rate of wheat.
He said that prices of common commodities were on the rise and they would register further hike. People should adopt austerity measures and drastically cut their expenses to maintain a decent living, he said.
Murtaza Jatoi accused PPP of stealing results in general elections of 2013 and 2018 with the help of returning officers. Today’s PPP was not the party of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto because they had not sold government contracts and jobs, he said.
PML-F leader Pir Sadruddin Shah said that a bunch of looters, who were members of ‘Zardari League’ were busy robbing people of all they have been left with now.
Merit had been murdered and deserving daughters and sons of the poor had been deprived of their right, he said, adding that if Benazir Bhutto had had any “will” she would have given it to her sister Sanam Bhutto.
Former Sindh Chief Minister Syed Ghous Ali Shah, MPA Shaharyar Mahar and Haji Munawwar Ali Abbasi also spoke at the gathering, which was organised by Larkana Awami Ittehad.
Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2019