KARACHI, Sept 25: The Sindh Democratic Alliance (SDA) has in principle decided to merger itself with the Pakistan Muslim League.
It emerged at a joint meeting of the SDA’s central council and executive committee held here on Thursday. The meeting empowered Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh, chief of the alliance, to go ahead with the merger process and finalize the arrangements in consultation with the PML leadership.
Besides considering the invitation from the PML chief, Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain, for the merger, the meeting which was held at Mr Shaikh’s residence in DHA, also deliberated upon various issue including law and order situation, unemployment and water problem in Sindh as well as the prevailing gulf between urban and rural population.
In one of the resolutions adopted at the meeting, the SDA demanded of the government to immediately issue the notification of the Technical Committee on Kalabagh Dam, as was announced by President Gen Musharraf.
Soon after the meeting, a marathon session which lasted four hours, Mr Imtiaz Shaikh disclosed the decision to newsmen.
Replying to various questions, he said that the meeting had empowered him to constitute two committees, one of them would sort out all matters pertaining to the organisational setup and finalize the merger process. The other committee, he added, would be assigned the task of amendment to the SDA constitution.
He explained that the council had vested full powers in his person as Mr Murtaza Jatoi and Arbab Ghulam Rahim — members of the three member presidium of the SDA —, after their nominations, had preferred to retain their affiliation with the National Peoples Party and the National Alliance respectively.
When asked about the logic of forming a committee to amend the SDA constitution, Mr Shaikh said the meeting felt it necessary to effect the changes to run the day to day affairs until all the matters were finalized.
Replying to a question that whether the SDA had failed to provide an alternative leadership in Sindh to attain its primary objectives, he said: “Our only objective is to serve the people.” He held out the assurance that before implementing the decision, all ground realities and the interests of the province and the country would be kept in view.
The SDA chief denied emergence of any breakaway faction within the alliance. Excluding a few members, he claimed, all the founding members, senior leaders, district chiefs and secretaries were present at the meeting. Commenting on the reported differences with Dr Arbab Rahim, he said “Arbab Saheb is my friend and as soon as he returns to the city, I would meet and convince him to accept the SDA’s decision.”
Imtiaz Shaikh said he wanted to set a new tradition of allegation-free politics by not accusing his old party colleagues of any misconduct, violation, etc.
Earlier, Alhaj Shamimuddin, General Secretary of the alliance, read out before the newsmen the eight resolutions adopted at the meeting. One of the resolutions demanded necessary action to improve law and order in the province. Another resolution called for the lifting of ban on recruitment and all appointments purely on merit basis. It further sought a relaxation of 10 years in the age limit for government jobs.
Yet another resolution hailed President Musharraf’s address to the UN General Assembly and described his stand on the cause of Muslims and the third world as bold and courageous.
Among those present at the briefing were Rahila Tiwana, Salim Jan Mazari, Irfanullah Marwat, Shakir Ali Jafri and members of the SDA’s central council and executive committee.
