LARKANA: Pakistan Peo­ples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has equated the National Acco­un­ta­bility Ordinance to infamous Elective Bodies (Dis­qua­li­fica­tion) Order­ (Ebdo) and Public and Represen­tative Office (Dis­qua­li­fica­tion) Act (Proda) laws which were framed in past expre­ssly to facilitate “political engineering”.

He said during his meetings with party supporters at Naudero House on Thursday that NAB’s action against chairman of Jacob­abad Mun­i­ci­pal Com­m­ittee Ghulam Abbas Jakh­rani was just another move to poli­tically victimise and intimidate pro-PPP people in local bodies.

He lashed out at NAB actions against party workers, office-bearers and elec­ted representatives and said that after having targeted the party’s top leadership NAB was now out to victimise PPP’s rank and file.

Bilawal, who arrived at Naudero House on Tuesday apparently to canvass for Jamil Soomro, his political secretary, contesting by-election for PS-11, said that leaders of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) had no qualms about sitting with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) that had advocated Sindh’s division.

He said that GDA and MQM had joined forces against democratic elements but he was confident that people of Larkana would inflict a humiliating defeat on all anti-democratic forces.

He said that those who had tasted defeat in last general election were in their death throes and history stood witness to the will of the people of Larkana who had always rejected dictators and stood by democracy. The PPP would regain the seat it had lost in general election, he said.

He said that action against Jacobabad Munici­pal Comm­ittee chairman was aimed at freezing the local bodies system. Bureau­cracy was alr­eady moving at a snail’s pace and now steps were being taken to tighten the noose around local bodies’ representatives so as to render them ineffective.

Since 72 years, he said, the forces fearful of genuinely elected representatives of the people were busy in “political engineering” whi­ch started with defaming pol­i­ticians and culminated in dictatorial rule.

The party workers and elected representatives of different union councils falling in PS-11 constituency put forward certain proposals for garnering support in by-election.

Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, presi­dent PPP Sindh; MNA Khur­sheed Junejo who heads PPP district coordination committee; Abdul Fatah Bhutto, former president of PPP Larkana district, and others were also present during the meetings.

The workers assured their leaders of all-out support in the by-election while Jamil Soomro said that the party’s opponents were already witnessing their defeat and they were in confusion.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2019