KARACHI, July 24: The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) Sindh on Wednesday announced postponement of its July 26 rally at Nishtar Park in protest against the government’s alleged partisan attitude in withholding permission.
This was declared by the provincial chief of the ARD, Nisar Khuhro, at a news conference at Karachi Press Club. Leaders of other component parties were also present in the meeting.
Mr Khuhro claimed that such a malafide attitude of the administration tantamount to blocking the way of democratic forces, struggling for supremacy and respect for the will and aspirations of the people.
He said the alliance in its meeting on July 27 would give a fresh date, and emphasised that the administration should accord permission, otherwise it would be responsible for the consequences.
He emphasised that the ARD believes in a peaceful political struggle.
Asked if the government gave permission to hold the rally on July 26 after the press conference, Mr Khuhro said: “Will it be fair? It will be malafide.” He nevertheless added that the ARD has experienced such malafide acts in the past.
In a bid to expose what Mr Khuhro termed as “contradictions” of the regime, the PPP leader said that the ARD had submitted an application to the Sindh home secretary on July 16, expressing clearly that the alliance plans to hold rally at Nishtar Park in connection with its mass contact campaign.
The decision was also made public through a press conference the following day, said Mr Khuhro. who added that the City government, through its Naib Nazim was informed of the decision in view of the earlier decision of the city fathers that political parties can hold rallies at Nishtar Park.
He said that the government was sitting over ARD’s application with malafide intentions because the present rulers, who do not have a mandate of the people and do not represent their aspirations and mandate, were afraid of the people’s mobilization.
The provincial ARD chief said that the government had adopted, what he called the “shameless” and “coward” attitude to frustrate the ARD’s attempts to hold rallies in Hyderabad and Sukkur.
He alleged that another political party which had applied for permission to hold rally at the same place on July 28 was given permission on the same day. In fact, its subsequent application for rescheduling the programme in early August was also accepted. He did not name the political party claiming that it was partisan attitude and amounted to pre-election rigging. He also alleged that a “rigging cell” was operating in the Governor’s House to ensure desired results.
