KARACHI: Former senator and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Maulana Tanve­er-ul-Haq Thanvi has bid farewell to the ruling PTI and announced that he was joining the Pakistan Peoples Party.

He announced his decision in a press conference after a meeting with the PPP’s Sindh president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro here on Tuesday.

Maulana Thanvi had been elected as senator on MQM’s ticket. He joined PTI only a few months ago.

The maulana said that along with religious services, he would play a role in solving problems of the people in politics. “Sindh is our land, here we have to live and die.”

He said that he had remained in MQM and then joined the PTI but remained inactive in the party and later joined PML-N but the PML-N was entangled in its own problems. However he clarified that he had no differences with any political party.

Mr Khuhro said that Maulana Tanveer-ul-Haq was joining the PPP and the party welcomed him.

“Now the hopes of the people are with the PPP.”

Mr Khuhro accused the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) of maintaining silence over the alleged theft of 30,000 cusecs of Sindh’s water by Punjab.

He added that the Guddu Barrage was receiving only 100,000 cusecs and facing a shortage of 30,000 cusecs.

“Irsa is a silent spectator to the theft of 30,000 cusecs of water,” the PPP leader said while commenting on the water shortage faced by Sindh. He said the federal parliamentary system was about moving forward by tolerating each other.

According to the PPP leader, maligning politics and politicians has become common practice in the country.

He added that those who wanted to topple the Sindh government had already been rejected by the people of Sindh and will now be rejected by the people across the country.

Responding to the remarks made by former chief minister Ghulam Arbab Rahim, the PPP leader said: “Rahim should first talk about the number of parties he has switched so far.”

Alluding to Arbab Rahim’s nomination as PM’s aide on Sindh affairs, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan was undermining the position of Sindh Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh, which should be a wake-up call for the latter.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2021