KARACHI: Thousands of Pakistan Peoples Party workers and supporters joined in street protests held in all districts of Sindh on Sunday for the removal of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the wake of the April 20 Supreme Court verdict of the Panamagate case and for failing to fulfil his party’s commitment to overcome electricity crisis. Speaking to protesters, PPP leaders condemned the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government for denying Sindh of its constitutional rights.

In Karachi, several hundred PPP workers and supporters participated in each of the sit-ins held in all six districts and intermittently kept raising the slogan ‘Go Nawaz Go’ during speeches by their leaders, who included PPP Sindh president Nisar Khuhro, Waqar Mehdi, Senators Taj Haider and Saeed Ghani, Dr Shahida Rahmani, Abdul Hakeem Baloch, Sindh Assembly Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza and Ghulam Murtaza Baloch.

Mr Khuhro, speaking to party workers at Hassan Square, announced that the the party would organise the next sit-in in the city on Wednesday (April 26) outside the Mazar Quaid-i-Azam before taking the movement for the removal of the PM to other parts of the country. He said the movement would continue until Mr Sharif resigned from the office of the prime minister.

It is clearly mentioned in the Panamagate case verdict that Nawaz Sharif is not qualified for the slot of the PM and, as such, he must resign, according to the PPP leaders.

They said Mr Sharif and his two sons, Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz, should face the joint investigation team (JIT), being formed under the Supreme Court order, as common citizens.

“Mr Sharif must quit to face the investigation as an accused in such a case cannot hold a public office,” they argued.

They asked the federal government to stop usurping rights of Sindh, do away with the undeclared loadshedding and ensure implementation of the NFC awards in letter and spirit.

They also criticised the federal government for not removing the long-standing ban on new gas connections in Sindh.They condemned the prime minister and his ministers for rejoicing the SC verdict and trying to make people believe that it was in favour of Mr Sharif and his family. Instead, the PM should feel ashamed and step down for being declared disqualified for his position, they added.

The senior PPP leaders urged all political and religious forces to unite and join the movement for the PM’s removal.

They criticised certain parties currently holding their rallies in Karachi in the name of powers for local government representatives, saying: “They should first tell the people how much they delivered despite remaining in government with a heavy mandate for so many years and enjoying full powers.”

“The motive behind their rallies is to disturb law and order in the city but we will not allow this gang of conspirators to undermine peace,” they said.

HYDERABAD: PPP-Parliamentarians (PPP-P) information secretary Maula Bux Chandio, speaking to protesting party workers outside the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) headquarters, said that the apex court termed the prime minister a liar for the first time and the two judges of the bench in their verdict declared him disqualified. The other three judges also held him responsible for concealment of facts; as such, he should silently step down, he added.

Accompanied by Saghir Qureshi, Ali Mohammad Sahto, Ahsan Abro and other PPP leaders, Mr Chandio told participants of the sit-in that clamouring by PML-N ministers could not change the definition of the judges’ findings. He wondered why PML-N ministers were distributing sweets and the PM celebrating his success.

The senior PPP leader said that the prime minister had allowed some of his ministers to say whatever they wanted, adding that one of them was biased. “This minister is, in fact, enemy of [PM] Nawaz Sharif and not the smaller provinces. It’s this minister’s political acumen that he bracketed his prime minister with Uzair Baloch and Zulfikar Mirza,” he observed. Mr Chandio asked the federal minister that what kind of relation he had with [super model] Ayyan Ali.

“If this country is to be governed, then the prime minister will have to respect institutions; he can nominate anyone from among his family members to serve as the acting premier, he said.

Mr Chandio said that Nawaz Sharif had lost legitimacy to rule over the country as even those who had been supporting him were demanding his resignation after the Panamagate case verdict. The sit-ins against Mr Sharif were going to increase, he said, and added that the PM would have to quit.

“If the prime minister shows farsightedness, then he will call early elections,” he said.

Reiterating that any change could come only through political process and not with the ‘raising of a finger’, Mr Chandio urged senior PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf] leaders to guide their chairman, Imran Khan, about political strategies.

He said Mr Khan was scared in Punjab and that’s why he did not want a vigorous struggle to be launched against the federal government. He accused the PTI chief of having an underhand deal with the PML-N.

LARKANA: A large number of PPP workers and supporters held a sit-in outside Jinnahbagh in the hometown of Benazir Bhutto on Sunday demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation.

Abdul Fatah Bhutto, Khair Muhammed Shaikh, Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto, Naseeban Channa, Dr Sakina Gaad and several other senior party leaders spoke to the participants.

They said the protest was also against the federal government’s failure to end power and gas loadshedding as well as chronic shortage of irrigation water in Sindh.

They vowed to hold a big rally in Islamabad to for the prime minister to step down.

Clash averted

Timely intervention by the area police averted a clash between PPP and PML-N workers coincidentally coming face to face near Jinnahbagh. While the PPP sit-in was in progress, the PML-N workers celebrating the SC verdict reached there and both sides started raising slogans against each other.

However, the police promptly intervened to avert a clash persuading the PML-N workers to adopt an alternative route.

SUKKUR: PPP workers took out rallies and held sit-ins at many places in Sukkur, Jacobabad, Ghotki and Kandhkot-Kashmore districts on Sunday demanding resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and an end to electricity and gas loadshedding, as well as a water shortage.

The Sukkur rally, led by Haji Anwar Khan Mahar, Bachal Shah Jeelani, MPA Owais Shah, Dr Arshad Mughal, Haji Wazir Pitafi and others, passed through various streets of the city before the participants held a sit-in for three hours at the Rohri toll plaza.

They raised slogans against PM Nawaz Sharif and Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali and torched their effigies.A large number PPP workers took part in a rally taken out in Jacobabad which was led by Mohammad Arab Dayo, Mir Rehmatullah Khoso, Changez Khan Panhwar and others.

The rally participants raising slogans against the prime minister and his government held a sit-in outside the local press club.

PPP workers also took out rallies and held sit-ins at Bhittai Chowk in Mirpur Mathelo town of Ghotki district and Clock Tower Chowk in Kandhkot town of Kandhkot-Kashmore district.

PPP workers in large numbers took part in similar sit-ins held in the district headquarters of Mirpurkhas, Badin, Dadu, Khairpur, Shikarpur, Sanghar, Naushahro Feroze, Nawabshah, Tharparkar and Umerkot.

District leadership of the party spoke to the participants and vowed to take part in the series of protests to be held until the removal of the prime minister.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2017