LARKANA: Sindh will soon have its own accountability bureau. A draft law for the stetting up of the institution is almost ready to be tabled in the provincial assembly.

This was stated by Sindh Senior Minister for Information and Education Nisar Ahmed Khuhro while speaking to journalists in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto on Sunday.

In reply to a question, Mr Khuhro argued that when Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could have its own accountability bureau why not Sindh, which is bigger than the KP.

Regarding position of the Pakistan Peoples Party amid the ongoing operation against corrupt people within the party besides others, Mr Khuhro expressed his confidence that the PPP would again emerge victorious in the local government elections on the basis of its over the years performance. “Those who have sensed their defeat in the election are accusing PPP of pre-poll rigging,” he claimed.

In order to prevent such a type of rigging, the Election Commission of Pakistan was closely monitoring the entire election process and had nominated officers on its own besides ordering a halt to transfers and postings as well as development works until the polling was over, he said.

In reply to another question, he said provincial autonomy in the country had been restored after 27 years. Mr Khuhro announced that the PPP would award party tickets to its local government candidates on Sept 30.

Mumtaz warns against ‘tailored delimitations’

Mumtaz Bhutto, a former Sindh governor and chief minister who heads the recently-formed Larkana Awami Ittehad (LAI), has alleged that bureaucrats and pro-PPP elements are “tailoring delimitations” to suit PPP candidates for the local government seats.

He was speaking to the people who visited him at Mirpur Bhutto on Sunday.

Mr Bhutto said that such officials and elements were actually playing with fire, and warned them of peoples’ wrath.

He noted that even the constituencies framed during former president retired General Pervez Mushraff’s era were being manipulated. “Public outrage over such things would teach the corrupt officials a lesson,” he said.

He called for holding [PPP co-chairman] Asif Ali Zardari and his “active business partner who has fled to London” accountable for the plunder of national exchequer and provincial kitty without which, he said, the process of accountability would remain half-finished.

Mr Bhutto said it was not difficult for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to acquire details of Mr Zardari’s wealth as it was well aware of all things. He wondered that he (Mr Zardari) was running the Sindh government affairs while sitting in Dubai despite despite the NAB having all such information available to it.

“For how long the people of Sindh will remain trapped in this morass?” he questioned.

He noted that some provincial ministers and officials had not only confessed to their crimes but also returned the ill-gotten money besides revealing the truth before NAB and Rangers officers.

PPP rejects ECP code of conduct

UMERKOT: Elected representatives of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and its central executive committee members have rejected the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for local body elections.

On the one hand local body elections are held on the basis of party while on the other party representatives are stopped from campaigning.

This was expressed by PPP Central Executive Committee member and MNA Nawab Muhammad Yusuf Talpur at an Eid Milan Party while campaigning for local body elections. The event was organised by PPP’s former opponent and now supporter Qasim Siraj Soomro at the Sindh House here on Sunday.

Mr Talpur said they (PPP representatives) were ashamed that during their tenure, they failed to bring the assassins of Benazir Bhutto to the book. Without Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, they were like orphans, he added. Their wounds were unhealed and their voices choked, but the reality was that prosperity and development of Sindh was possible only with the PPP in power, he said.

Provincial Minister for Population Welfare Syed Ali Mardan Shah claimed that they (PPP elected representatives) always served the people of Tharparker district by launching development schemes, providing employment, ensuring safe drinking water, irrigation water from Nara canal and helping the Thari people in the wake of droughts.

In return, they needed votes for their candidates in the local body polls, he said.

He deplored they could not save Benazir Bhutto who always kept a check on elected representatives and took notice of public complaints. She was the identity of the federation, he added. If Sindh was underdeveloped, the situation in Punjab, Balochistan and Kyber Pakhtunkhwa was also not ideal. Overall situation was worst for which terrorism was responsible, he said.

He said the PPP government tried its level best to solve the issues. Party mistakes must be counted, but people should also keep in mind the sacrifices of PPP workers and leaders. To be ready for sacrifices and offer sacrifices were two different things. The Bhutto family gave true sacrifice for democracy and the people of Pakistan, he said.

MPA Syed Sardar Ali Shah said anti-democratic elements and the killers of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto were the same.

He said it was Mr Bhutto who made people realise the power of their voice against injustices. This way he gave political awareness to common people. “This is the reason that today we have a voice and we can decide what is right or wrong,” he said.

Qasim Siraj Soomro and others also spoke.

Published in Dawn, September 28th , 2015

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