SHIKARPUR: A key leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Sardar Wahid Bukhsh Bhayo, has severely criticised a few colleagues, including elected representatives, for failing to deliver, indulging in corruption and forming their own groups to weaken the party.

Speaking at the ‘Meet the Press’ programme held at the local press club on Wednesday, Sardar Bhayo, a member of the party’s central committee, said certain MNAs and MPAs of the party miserably failed to come up to the expectations of their voters and also disappointed their workers. He observed that PPP workers served the party sincerely but their opportunist leaders remained busy in their corrupt practices and formed their own groups.

He said the opportunists demonstrated their utter deviation from the mission of the party’s founding chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto, adding that they had not been following the directives of the present leaders, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Asif Ali Zardari and Syed Qaim Ali Shah, regarding their duty of selfless services to the electorate and improvement in the standard of the common man’s life.

Sardar Bhayo regretted that corrupt elements ate up the funds meant for local governments in Sindh, specially in Shikarpur, and said the party was cleansing itself from such elements to ensure restoration of its popularity and show better results in the upcoming LG elections.

In reply to a question, he said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government at the Centre seemed unwilling to hold the LG elections but if they were held as per the specified time, the PPP would defeat its rivals with a big margin.

The PPP leader fully supported the National Action Plan (NAP) and paid tribute to army chief Gen Raheel Sharif for eliminating terrorism across the country to a great extent. He said the ruthless military operation had become inevitable as politicians had failed to counter terrorism effectively and control crime and corruption. Instead, he said, some of the politicians had been patronising criminal activities and corrupt practices.

The armed forces had now succeeded in maintaining law and order in most parts of the country right from Karachi to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through operations against terrorists and criminals. Even the situation in the rural, kutcha and forest areas of Sindh, particularly Shikarpur, had considerably improved, he observed.

He urged the party cadre to forge unity in the file and rank and discourage opportunists in order to strengthen the party and enable it serve the masses.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2015

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