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| October 30, 2007 | Tuesday | Shawwal 17, 1428 |
KARACHI: Removal of PPP flags, banners opposed
KARACHI, Oct 29: With the city police chief justifying the action, the Pakistan People’s Party has resented the removal of party flags and banners in different parts of the city and accused the authorities of adopting selective and PPP-specific measures.
Rashid Rabbani, president of the party’s Karachi chapter, said the PPP was not against the removal of panaflex hoardings related to Ms Bhutto’s homecoming, but the removal of solely PPP flags and banners at a time when the country had gone into the election mode was discriminatory.
Mr Rabbani said his party had told the home secretary about its reservations because flags and banners of other political parties were still hoisted at many places and no one was removing them despite claims of an even-handed approach.
Mr Rabbani termed it an attempt to stifle the voice of democratic forces and warned that party workers were “getting enraged and the government will be held responsible for any untoward incident”.
City Police Chief Azhar Ali Farooqi told Dawn that the police, in coordination with the city government and the cantonment boards, were removing the panaflexes from rooftops and billboards across the city.
“We are here to help the CDGK and the cantonment boards in taking down the panaflexes from different parts of the city,” Mr Farooqi said.
Referring to a code of conduct agreed between representatives of the Pakistan People’s Party and the Sindh government, Mr Farooqi said an understanding had been reached between the two sides according to which these banners and panaflexes were to be removed after a week of the arrival of the PPP chairperson.
The Sindh Chief Minister, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, issued a press statement on Monday evening, directing the authorities concerned to immediately remove wall-chalking and banners in the city.
The former prime minister and chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party, Benazir Bhutto, arrived here in the city after a three-day visit to her hometown of Larkana amid misgivings about the police probe into the Oct 18 carnage and the security provided to her.
Only some of the party bigwigs were at the airport to greet Ms Bhutto from where she was whisked away to her seaside bastion, Bilawal House, by her private security guards and official security contingent as her legal aides were trying to impress up the government to allow her using vehicles with tinted glasses and private armed guards to protect her from any possible attempt on her life.
A mist of secrecy envelopes Ms Bhutto’s engagements as key questions as to who had ordered the switching off of the streetlights, who spread the news that it was a grenade attack, why no statement has been recorded of the people who were atop the truck, and why her FIR has not been registered as yet remain unanswered.
Refusing to unveil Ms Bhutto’s plans for Tuesday, the in-charge of Bilawal House media cell, Jameel Soomro, said that she was resting.
The PPP believes that anti-people forces were trying to frighten the masses through terrorism and no terrorist act has been resolved so far that is why Ms Bhutto has asked to seek help from foreign experts to unearth the plots, their masterminds and sponsors.
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