December 15, 2007	Saturday	Zilhaj 4, 1428

LARKANA, Dec 14: The Sindh National Front (SNF) chairman Mumtaz Ali Bhutto on Friday announced his support for Ms Ghinwa Bhutto, chairperson of Pakistan People’s Party (Shaheed Bhutto) who was running for NA-204 (Larkana-I) seat against Benazir Bhutto.

Mr Bhutto said after a joint meeting of party leaders and Bhutto tribe including Ms Ghinwa Bhutto at his residence that he decided to support Ms Ghinwa because her party met the SNF’s criteria.

The PPP (SB) had neither been in power nor were its hands stained with innocents’ blood, nor was it involved in plundering public money, he said.

He said that the party would review its earlier decision of boycotting the polls in the party’s central committee meeting to be convened in Larkana on Dec 19.

The party had earlier decided to boycott the elections keeping in view the mood of other political parties but was considering reviewing its stance after almost all the political parties decided to contest, he said.

Boycotting election under the changed situation would make no difference and would instead provide an open field to the opportunists and the turncoats, he said.

Mr Bhutto said that the party’s central committee would prefer to support the sons of soil and the people with clean slate. None else but Ms Benazir Bhutto herself was responsible for the murder of Mir Murtaza Bhutto because it was committed during her rule, he said.

The agreement between the SNF and the PPP-SB was not confined to elections, he said calling Ms Ghinwa part of Bhutto family.

Ms Ghinwa thanked Mumtaz Bhutto for his support and blessings and said he had always been very kind to her as chief of Bhutto tribe. She later went to Ali Abad Bakrani village to attend a corner meeting of PML (Q).

She thanked Haji Altaf Hussain Unnar, president of Larkana chapter of PML (Q) for making seat adjustments with her party and vowed that together they would inflict a crushing defeat on PPP in Larkana.

The candidates of PML (Q), including Haji Altaf Hussain Unnar and Babu Sarwar Siyal also addressed the meeting.