LARKANA: Former Sindh chief minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi has criticised the nomination of Syed Murad Ali Shah as the new chief minister saying that he will not be acceptable to the people of the province because “he is involved in siphoning off funds meant for development schemes”.

Mr Jatoi who is chairman of the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) said at a press conference in a local hotel after presiding over meeting of the party office-bearers here on Monday that Mr Shah had no extraordinary merits for the high seat.

He slammed the practice of making important decisions about the province in Dubai and accused Mr Shah of being involved in swallowing up funds of Sehwan Development Authority and other development schemes. If Mr Shah was imposed on the province, his party would launch a movement against him, he warned.

Mr Jatoi said that one of the reasons that made Mr Shah unfit for the high office was his vindictive nature and a shameful history of targeting opponents. His father former Sindh chief minister Syed Abdullah Shah -- who had obtained party ticket through his father Abdul Hameed Khan Jatoi -- was involved in the murder of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, he said.

All those who were involved in the assassinations of Ms Benazir Bhutto and her brother Murtaza Bhutto had joined hands now but now Zardari’s politics would no more work while he remained stuck to Dubai, he said adding ‘he should come and face people here’.

He termed Sindh rulers inept and inefficient and said the PPP as a political party was buried the moment Ms Bhutto was assassinated. “Today’s PPP is in reality Zardari league. Just have a look at Asad Kharal phenomenal rise, how a mere clerk becomes super rich overnight thanks to corrupt system,” he said.

He urged investigators to probe Kharal’s links with Syed Awais Shah’s kidnapping and expressed concern over battered law and order situation in the interior of the province.

He advocated arming Rangers with policing powers applicable throughout the province and said his party would file a constitutional petition if Rangers were denied the necessary powers.

Since eight years PPP had been victimizing him, his family and comrades but he would never bow to cruel rulers. “Our family is not new to such victimization. We have faced false cases in past as well,” he said.

Mr Jatoi demanded across the board accountability of all and said bad governance had ruined all government departments. He underlined the need for evolving a transparent system for holding elections and said he challenged Asif Ali Zardari to contest against him from any constituency and he would inflict defeat on him, he said.

Earlier, Mr Jatoi chaired the meeting of his party office-bearers which passed a resolution, demanding imposition of governor’s rule in Sindh to save the province from further ruination.

The meeting also called on Rangers, FIA and NAB to launch a probe into alleged misappropriation of funds of the Gorakh Hill Station’s development scheme. As a political bribe, the government had made PPP Dadu district president head of Gorakh Hill Station Authority which was unconstitutional, said Mr Jatoi.

Syed Zaffar Ali Shah, Karim Khan Jatoi, Mushtaq Jatoi, Ashique Zaoonr, Badeh Ali Leghari and others were also present at the press conference.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2016