HYDERABAD: The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) during its maiden power show in Sindh threw down the gauntlet to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), vowing to bring to an en
d the latter’s 10-year rule.
An unusually high number of people attende
d the public meeting which was organised in Sukkur on Sunday. At the event, Hur Jamaat’s spiritual head and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional President Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi or Pir Pagara made his second appearance at a public meeting in almost six years.
“The sun of [PPP] Zardari’s politics is setting. The GDA will form the next government in Sindh,” claimed Pagara. He sai
d the PPP won 2013 general elections by rigging the polls “but we accepte
d the results for the sake of democracy”.
He sai
d the alliance will not allow stealing the people’s mandate in the elections of 2018. Pagara, who also leads the GDA, informe
d the gathering that many po
litical figures were joining the coalition.
He criticise
d the PPP for failing to bring Benazir Bhutto’s killers to justice. The functional league’s leader, whose party is an ally of PML-N in the centre, also criticise
d the way the federal government handle
d the sit-in protest in Islamabad.
“I firmly believe that those who change
d the clause about Allah’s beloved Prophet (PBUH) will not remain in the government for too long.” He pressed for a negotiated solution instead of employing force to en
d the sit-in.
Pagara also spoke about the problems faced b
y farmers and blame
d the provincial government for their financial woes. He praise
d the Pakistan Army for safeguarding the country from terrorists and sacrificing their lives in the fight against terror.
“Enemies such as the Central Intelligence Agency, and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of India are behin
d the conspiracy between Zardari and Altaf Hussain,” alleged
Ayaz Latif Palijo, GDA’s general secretary and head of Qaumi Awami Tehreek party.
He said that the people of Sindh brought PPP into power time and again through po
litical struggle and making countless sacrifices “and Zardari keeps telling the people that they are indebted to Bhuttos. Is this debt a loan taken from Hindu money lenders which can never be repaid?”
Palijo also warne
d the MQM against even planning to divide Sindh along ethnic lines. Former home minister Zulfiqar Mirza blamed Zardari and his sister MNA Faryal Talpur for punishing their po
litical opponents in rural Sindh by stopping the supply of irrigation water to their land.
“The people want to bring about changes through ballots but unfortunately the rulers rig elections with the help of the police,” he alleged. MNA Ghulam Murtaza Laghari accuse
d the provincial government of auctioning public sector jobs and contracts for money.
PML-N MPA and former chief minister Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim announced that he was quitting the party. “Nawaz Sharif is a selfish person,” he alleged. Rahim held Sharif and Zardari equally responsible for corruption and bad governance in Sindh. “Soon the people who blame us for Benazir’s murder will know who her real murderers are.”
Former defence minister Sadaruddin Shah Rashdi, former Sindh chief minister Syed Ghous Ali Shah, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Dr Safdar Abbassi, Shaharyar Mehar and other GDA leaders also spoke at the occasion.
Published in Daily Times, November 28th 2017.