SUKKUR: The All Parties Action Committee (APAC) — the recently formed nine-party electoral alliance — took out a rally in Sukkur on Monday and held a sit-in for several hours outside the regional election commissioner’s (REC’s) office against appointment of “pro-PPP” returning officers in the district.

The alliance has representation from the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Sukkur Shehri Ittehad, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Jamaat-i-Islami and some other groups.

Led by Mufti Saud Afzal Halejvi, Maulana Mohammed Sualeh Indhar, Ravi Kumar, Hafiz Abdul Hameed Mahar, Dr Rab Nawaz Kalwar, Maulana Ubaidullah Bhutto, Allah Dad Bozdar, Maulana Hizbullah Jakhro and others, the rally participants started their march from the City Point Bypass and after passing through Military Road converged on the REC’s office raising slogans against the Pakistan Peoples Party and the election staff for their “connivance in pre-poll rigging”.

Speaking to them, APAC leaders alleged that the returning officers (ROs) appointed for polling in Sukkur had been obliging the PPP while dealing with the matters concerning the local government election process. “How can the upcoming election be free, fair and credible in such a situation?” they asked.

They claimed that the ROs were openly siding with PPP candidates and obeying the orders of that party’s lawmakers, leaders and activists.

The rally participants continued to raise slogans for hours until the regional election commissioner invited a team of the APAC leaders to talks. The team handed over a list of demands to the REC and insisted that all of them should be met to ensure free, fair and transparent election process in the district.

After the talks, the team told the rally participants that the REC asked for time, i.e. until Oct 3, to consider and take a decision on their demands.

Speaking to the media, APAC leaders said that the alliance was formed and rally was taken out because the ROs posted in Sukkur district were seen acting like PPP activists. They said their main demand was removal of all these ROs and appointment of impartial and honest officers from the judiciary.

They said their second major demand was holding of the entire LG election process in the district under the supervision of the military and paramilitary forces. “Unless this is done, the election process will have no credibility,” they added.

The APAC leaders observed that in many cases, the polling stations and booths were repeatedly being moved from one place to the other without any justification. This was bound to confuse and disturb voters, they argued.

“We have demanded that all polling stations and booths in Sukkur district be established at places selected for the 2005 elections,” they said. They claimed that the manipulation in this regard was aimed at ensuring defeat to non-PPP candidates.

KHAIRPUR: Pakistan Muslim League-Functional leader Pir Syed Sadruddin Shah Rashidi has said that the PPP had designed the new delimitation in Sindh to its advantage but the Sindh High Court ruling on the issue foiled its attempt to rig the upcoming local government election.

Speaking to the media here late on Sunday night, Pir Rashdi, the provincial chief of the PML-F, hoped that it would become clear if the LG election in Sindh was going to be held as per schedule. He said the PML-F was set to emerge victorious on all the seats it would contest for. The PPP would face a humiliating defeat in the election, he predicted.

Pir Rashidi alleged that the PPP implicated many PML-F leaders and activists in false cases and got them detained in jails and police lock-ups where the victims were subjected to torture and harassment. He referred to the popular PPP slogan: “Tum kitnay Bhutto maro gay, har ghar se Bhutto niklay ga (How many Bhuttos can you kill? You will see more Bhuttos coming out of every house)”, and sarcastically said: “As a matter of fact, only more and more Zardaris are coming out of every PPP house!”

“The PPP has become a party of Zardaris,” he said, and alleged that Mr [Asif Ali] Zardari had wiped out the name of Bhuttos from the party’s active leadership. He accused the PPP of thoroughly plundering Sindh [kitty], and said that its leaders’ misdeeds were now being exposed by the National Accountability Bureau.

Mr Zardari had left the country and was not likely to return home, he said.

Before Pir Rashidi’s chat with the media, Syed Noorul Huda Shah, the son of former MPA late Syed Gul Shah, announced his decision of quitting the PPP to join the PML-F.

Published in Dawn, September 29th , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play