KARACHI: Sindh legislators and senior leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party on Monday accused former home minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza of massive corruption and warned that they would “besiege” his house for his ongoing criticism against the party co-chairman in the media.

Addressing a joint press conference at the PPP Media Cell, ministers Mukesh Kumar Chawla and Mumtaz Jakhrani with PPP lawmakers Imdad Pitafi and Tarique Masood Arain said the recent criticism against former president Asif Ali Zardari and other party leaders by Dr Mirza in interviews was part of anti-PPP agenda for certain objectives.

“If he really has some differences with the party then why his son [Dr Hasnain Mirza] doesn’t step down from the Sindh assembly seat that he won on the PPP ticket,” questioned Mr Pitafi.

“Dr Mirza knows that he is no more needed in the party after such bundles of lies. He tried his best to win space in the cabinet but when he was turned down on merit he chose to go with the propaganda campaign.”

Mr Chawla said that Dr Mirza was a bank defaulter and it was the decision of the financial institution to auction his sugar mills but he blamed the PPP co-chairman for taking over his mills. He said Dr Mirza owned billions of rupees property that being the “son of a retired judge”, he could have never earned.

“We still remember how long he waited in a queue for an interview with Faryal Talpur when party tickets were being issued to different candidates before the May 2013 general elections,” said Mr Jakhrani.

“During those days, he was full of praise for Ms Talpur and Mr Zardari. But within a year, he became aware of all odds against the party and its leaders.”

He said the PPP believed in tolerance and the party leadership had strictly ordered its leaders to exercise restraint and patience but the “consistent baseless accusations” by Dr Mirza against the co-chairman was inviting party workers to besiege his house in protest.

“We invite Dr Mirza to contest the [upcoming] election against the PPP candidate in his ancestral constituency [Badin],” said PPP lawmaker Tariq Masood Arain. “He would come to know about his political standing and popularity among the masses. Dr Mirza has no future in Sindh politics and he knows that he could live in the media only through such baseless interviews and allegations against popular leaders.”

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2015

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