MITHI, Jan 30: The president of the Punjab chapter of the Pakistan People’s Party Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi has claimed that Pervaiz Elahi puts blame for flour and electricity crisis in Punjab on former premier Shaukat Aziz.

Mr Qureshi said at a large public meeting at the Sports Complex ground here on Tuesday that people were well aware of the fact that “Lota” and “Lutera” politicians had looted the country and silently disappeared.

He expressed surprise that the Tharis who had elected prime minister as well as chief minister, had been crying even for a sip of sweet water while their country fellows in big cities were leading a relatively comfortable and carefree life with modern facilities.

If the policy makers had bothered to devise a befitting policy for exploring and exploiting the vast untapped deposits of coal in Thar this backward region could have been brought at par with the country’s developed areas, he said. Besides, it would have given a boost to national economy and brought an end to power crisis, he said.

Mr Qureshi said that it was the need of the hour to create a thinking of change for better future for which Bhuttos stood for and laid down their lives. Economic policies and leadership would have to be changed to pave the way for real progress in the country, he said.

He was told that in Thar, even a cook who was in the good books of local heavyweights could become an SHO and a favourite yes man SHO could become a DSP, he said.

But he wanted to convey even such officials a message that in the best interests of Thar and the country they should not become a part of any scheme to rig the polls, he said.

The vested interest had claimed when Shaukat Aziz had won a seat of national assembly from Thar after getting 190,000 votes that Thar’s destiny would now have a complete changeover, but people saw soon afterwards that it brought no change in their daily lives, he observed.

He urged people not to let the ‘looters’ thrust themselves upon them. Tharis felt they had been left in the lurch by the prime minister and the chief minister, he said.

He had come to ask them “did they get justice? What can be a life in society where one gets no justice.” Tharis, in fact, got nothing in return but fake cases as a price for supporting PPP.

He said that the elements, who manoeuvred to get Z.A. Bhutto hanged and get his daughter assassinated, had conspired to weaken the country but PPP wanted to see it getting stronger by each passing day.

Mr Qureshi said that he did not want to know about how the landlords of Thar led their lives but he had been watching barefooted, downtrodden Tharis visiting a shrine in Multan since his childhood.

Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Pir Aftab Shah Jilani, Mahesh Kumar Malani, Dr Khatumal Jivan, Pesumal Akrani, Wali Mohammad Rahoomo and Faqir Sher Mohammad Bilalani also spoke at the public meeting.

Meanwhile, the shopkeepers who refused to PPP leaders appeals to keep their shops open, were forced to do so when a large group of Pakistan Muslim League activists armed with clubs, axes and guns threatened them.

Police and paramilitary Rangers who were patrolling the area turned a blind eye to the actions of PML activists, much to the frustration of traders and common man.

Our Nawabshah correspondent adds: Mr Qureshi made it clear on Wednesday that PPP would not have seat adjustments with PML-N, and described the caretaker government as continuity of PML-Q rule.

He told journalists at the residence of Qazi Ghulam Mujtaba Dahiri that Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellahi was still getting official protocol.

The government was not interested in holding fair and free elections as 99 district nazims, DCOs and DPOs were busy doing election campaign for PML-Q candidates, he said.