BADIN: Leaders of Badin chapter of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the party’s lawmakers have warned that any move to postpone the second phase of local government election in the district on the pretext of ‘precarious’ law and order conditions will be opposed.

They urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to go ahead with the election according to the schedule as they on their part “can guarantee peace during polls while Rangers and other law enforcement agencies will definitely be taking necessary steps to ensure peace”.

Speaking at a joint press conference here on Thursday, PPP district chief Sardar Kamal Khan Chang, Syed Ali Bux aka Pappu Shah, Dr Aziz Memon, Sindh Minister for Law Dr Sikandar Ali Mandhro and PPP MPAs Bashir Ahmed Halepoto and Mir Allah Bux Talpur said that PPP was a party of people which always believed in peace.

The party’s dedicated workers would bear with batons should they be used against them and stones thrown at them by their adversaries but would not respond in the like manner in order not to disrupt peace during election, they said.

They said that some defeatist elements who foresaw humiliating defeat in elections were misinforming the ECP about the law and order conditions in the district and, thereby bringing a bad name to the peace-loving area of lower Sindh.

But, they warned, the peaceful climate would change for the worse if Dr Zulfikar Ali Mirza, who was neither a candidate nor affiliated with any political party and who was allowed to keep Rangers protocol, used abusive language against his rivals.

They demanded the ECP should ban Dr Mirza’s movement to polling stations from Nov 17 to 19 to preempt fears of ‘untoward incidents’.

They also took notice of use of the national flag as a political symbol by Dr Mirza and his supporters and alleged that ‘Dr Mirza was desecrating the national flag by allowing his men to hoist it on their vehicles and even on donkey carts’.

They demanded the Supreme Court take suo motu notice of what they described as the desecration of the national flag.

In response to a question about Dr Mirza’s spouse working against party discipline, Mr Chang said that MNA Dr Fehmida Mirza and her son Barrister Hasnain Mirza had nothing to do with party affairs. They should themselves tender resignations before the party took any action against them, he said.

He warned Dr Mirza to mend his ways and said ‘the party would kick him out of the district’ after trouncing his candidates on Nov 19.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2015

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