QUETTA, Sept 23: Pakistan Peoples Party, Sindh, deputy general secretary Manzoor Ahmed Wasan has warned the government to desist from rigging the third phase of the local body polls, else it will prove fatal for the federation. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, he alleged the government of rigging the LB polls to get results in favour of MQM and government backed candidates.

“Massive rigging and blocking the democratic forces will increase the sense of deprivation in Sindh, and it will be harmful for the federation,” Mr Wasan said.

He said that the PPP had always won 70 to 80 per cent seats in all elections held in the country.

He said that in the first and second phases of the LB polls the PPP got majority of the seats in Sindh, despite the government’s use of official machinery in favour of MQM and government backed candidates.

He alleged that the government was again out to manipulate the results in the favour of other parties. He said that PPP councillors were being kidnapped and arrested in false cases to oust the PPP from Larkana, Nawab Shah, Khairpur and other districts of Sindh in the third phase of the elections.

Mr Wasan, who is also the member of the National Assembly, said that during the rule of the President Gen Pervez Musharraf the PPP had been crushed at all levels and when the PPP leaders resisted the rigging they were put behind bars.

He said that in his native tehsil, Kot Degi, the PPP backed candidates won 110 seats out of 134 seats, but the government was using all official resources to bring nazim and naib nazim of the PML-F.

He alleged that police officers had been warned that if they failed to win the support of the councillors in favour of government backed candidates they would be sent home packing. He claimed that when his nephew protested over the move he was sent to jail.