DADU: PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has directed Adviser to the Chief Minister on Auqaf Syed Ghulam Shah Jilani and senior officials of his department to get the repair and renovation work at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine completed as soon as possible and ensure availability of all essential facilities there for devotees and other visitors. He asked them to provide him related proposals with estimated cost so that he could tell the chief minister to ensure timely release of the required funds.

Mr Zardari was speaking to the officials during his visit to the shrine on Saturday. He was accompanied by Senator Dr Abdul Qayyum Soomro and other close aides.

Mr Jilani briefed the former president and the senator about the ongoing development works at the shrine after Mr Zardari laid a wreath on the grave of the great Sufi saint and offered fateha.

Extraordinary security

Unprecedented security arrangements were made at and around the shrine, as well as along all routes leading to it, for Mr Zardari’s visit. The shrine was closed to devotees and visitors from 7am to 5pm and all unconcerned people present there were asked to leave.

Several hundred policemen led by their officers were deployed in Sehwan Sharif for Mr Zardari’s safety and security while plainclothes officers kept a watchful eye on suspicious persons to prevent any eventuality.

Sehwan witnesses day-long disruptions for PPP co-chairman’s security

A few hours before Mr Zardari’s arrival in the evening, all gates of the shrine were closed and all roads leading to it were cordoned off. Vehicular traffic at the Sehwan-Jamshoro section of the Indus Highway was stopped for several hours to facilitate safe movement of the PPP co-chairman. The vehicles remained stuck at the head of Aral Wah (canal) until the convoy carrying Mr Zardari passed through the area to return to Nawabshah.

Mr Zardari also intended to proceed to the shrine of revered Sufi saint Shah Latif Bhitai next but he changed his mind for an undeclared reason, party sources said.

Mumtaz reminds Zardari of his poll defeat

Sindh National Front (SNF) chairman Mumtaz Bhutto, speaking to party workers in Hyderabad on Saturday, said that PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari had run for office in local government elections during the Ziaul Haq regime before marrying Benazir Bhutto and suffered a humiliating defeat by securing only 1,500 votes, according to an SNF press release.

Mr Zardari had amassed immense wealth and wielded absolute powers through massive corruption facilitated by his so-called policy of reconciliation, Mr Bhutto alleged. “It is sad that nobody is talking about Mr Zardari’s corruption while feudal lords of Sindh are protecting him in order to have a share in the pie,” he said.

Workers rally for Bilawal

In Larkana, jubilant PPP workers on Saturday marched on the streets to express their happiness over their party chairman’s decision to contest from the NA-204 Larkana constituency. The PPP chairman has arranged for the resignation of a senior leader, Ayaz Soomro, from his NA-204 seat to contest the by-election on it.

The celebratory rally was led by PPP’s former Larkana district general secretary Abdul Fatah Bhutto, former Bakrani president Tariq Siyal, Larkana Mayor Aslam Shaikh and district council chairman Khan Mohammed Sangro.

The march started from Kennedy Market and ended at old town hall at Jinnahbagh.

Speaking to the participants, the leaders said that an overwhelming majority of the people of Larkana had in the past voted for PPP candidates and this time 100 per cent of them would vote for the party chairman. Meanwhile, the Sindh United Party (SUP) at its meeting here on Saturday, decided to field its senior vice president, Syed Zain Shah, against Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in the NA-204 by-election.

The meeting criticised the PPP for its alleged bad governance, and noted that during its tenure people saw murder of merit, rampant corruption, botched development projects, rising graph of unemployment and worsening poverty. “Time has come when people should differentiate between their friends and foes and elect sincere and committed lawmakers,” it said.

Published in Dawn January 1st, 2017