SUKKUR: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah has said that Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will address a huge rally in London on April 4 on the occasion of his grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s 36th death anniversary.

Speaking to the media at the Sukkur Press Club late on Monday evening, Mr Shah said that PPP leaders, workers and supporters from within Britain and many other countries would attend the programme.

Take a look: Zardari on mission to bring Bilawal back

He said that the PPP chief was unable to visit Garhi Khuda Bukhsh Bhutto for attending the main anniversary ceremony at the Bhuttos’ mausoleum that day because of his unavoidable preoccupation in London.

In reply to a question, he rejected rumours about his political differences with his father Asif Ali Zardari as rubbish.

Mr Shah said Mr Bhutto-Zardari would soon return to the country to actively take part in political and other activities.

Earlier, the opposition leader gave away the excellence award posthumously to CID officer Chaudhry Aslam as the best police officer of the province at a programme organised by the club. Several other police officers also won the best performance awards.

He appreciated the overall performance of the Sindh police, and observed that law and order had considerably improved due to the relentless efforts by police officers and their subordinates.

He also noted that crime rate had considerably dropped over the past few months.

He paid tribute to all those policemen who laid down their lives in the line of their duties and appreciated others for arresting terrorists, criminals and other anti-social elements involved in many high-profile killings and acts of terrorism.

He particularly made mention of the JUI-F leader Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro’s killing and the Shikarpur imambargah carnage cases in which police had made breakthrough within a short period of time.

Mr Shah said that law and order could be maintained efficiently and effectively only when political interference in the transfer and posting of police officers was stopped.

He stressed the need for bullet-proof vehicles to be provided to the police in a sufficient number to fight heavily armed terrorists and hardened criminals.

He also noted that the strength of personnel at the disposal of the police department was not at all all adequate considering the population of Sindh.

The event was attended by the Larkana range DIG Dr Sain Rakhio Mirani,

Masud Bungash, Pir Mohammed Shah, Irfan Bahadur, Umar Tufail, Abdullah and others.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2015

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