LARKANA: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) organised ceremonies at district level across the interior of Sindh on Monday to mark its founding day but the occasion was observed with simplicity due to the recent death of its veteran leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamen­tarian chairman.

In Larkana, Abdul Razzak Soomro — a founder member of the PPP and former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates — chaired the main founding day programme held at the Arts Council. No cake was cut on the occasion.

Mr Soomro speaking at the ceremony went down memory lane and said that the founding chairman, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, launched the party after realising the plight of the poor and downtrodden who included labourers and students. He said the party was founded at the residence of Dr Mubashir Hassan with resolve to strive for social justice and equality.

PPP Larkana district acting president Khair Mohammed Shaikh, MNA Nazir Ahmed Bughio, MPA Khurshed Junejo, Abdul Fatah Bhutto and others shed light on the party’s performance with special reference to the sacrifices of its leaders for the cause of democracy.

In Hyderabad, adviser to the Sindh chief minister on information and former senator Maula Bux Chandio, addressing the founding day ceremony of the PPP at the district council, said the PPP was the party of martyrs and it always struggled for the rights of the masses.

He said the PPP gave the country a constitution and guaranteed rights of labourers, workers and women. This was the only party which was keeping Sindh and Pakistan united, he added.

He said resources were looted in the past 60 years in Sindh and Pakistan, but his party got development works executed. He said the PPP always stood for the poor who trusted it as well. He said Benazir Bhutto was eliminated for raising her voice for the masses. He said that if Asif Zardari did not raise the slogan for saving Pakistan, its existence would have been endangered.

He said Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari would soon go to Punjab to strengthen his party among workers. He said the PPP respected democratic institutions like the ECP and complied with its code of conduct which other parties violated.

He said the PML-N had become a regional party and similarly Imran Khan could not rule the country after winning elections in one province. He said the PPP had been taking care of Badin for 30 years and a certain person had won only one municipal committee in the district. He said the PPP had accepted the Karachi operation but some parties opposed it.

Others who spoke on the occasion included district PPP president Zahid Bhurgari, vice president Amanullah Siyal and Sindh government consultant Abdul Jabbar Khan.

Later, speaking to reporters at a tea party at the local press club, Mr Chandio said political parties had been visiting Sindh nowadays, thinking that they could beat the PPP, “but they in fact are daydreaming”.

He said that in the last term, the party was not allowed to deliver freely. Local PPP leaders Saghir Qureshi and Fayyaz Shah were present on the occasion.

He said the two phases of the local government elections, which were swept by the PPP in Sindh, showed that the party had served the masses and that’s why they had given their mandate to it again. Under the leadership of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the PPP had become more vibrant, he added.

The CM adviser observed that due to terrorist activities, the PPP won fewer seats in the last general elections. He admitted that deficiencies on the part of the party were there as well. Besides, he said, the party leader was sitting then in the presidency and was bound by certain legal limitations, so he could not perform that much politically for the party.

He said that now conditions had changed and people would see that a welfare programme would be implemented. He said that in the local bodies elections different alliances were formed by political parties to challenge the PPP, but they failed to beat it. He said opponents of the PPP held a public meeting in Lyari in spite of the charges that the PPP did not let anyone enter Lyari.

He claimed that sitting parliamentarians were running political campaigns of the LG elections in utter violation of the code of conduct of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). They were also trying to create a conflict among their workers. He said the chief minister of Sindh was striving hard to resolve the problems of people.

The former senator said lawlessness in Karachi had been controlled to a great extent with the help of police and Rangers. He wondered that the political party which had won seats from one province was ruling Pakistan without any mandate from other provinces. If doctors permitted, the PPP co-chairman would attend the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, he said.

In Badin and Tharparkar districts, PPP activists and supporters participated in the founding day programmes held at the party’s offices in district headquarters and towns. The participants renewed their pledge to serve the masses and remain loyal to the party’s high command.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2015