HYDERABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Sindh president Dr Arif Alvi has said that change is in the offing in Sindh and expressed confidence that PTI will form the next government in the province with the help of a combination of electables and support of the masses at grass-root level.

He said at a press conference at the residence of party leader Liaquat Ali Jatoi in Latifabad on Monday that after the fall of Nawaz Sharif it was now Asif Ali Zardari’s turn. “Change is in the offing in Sindh. It has emerged after PTI’s public meetings that people are waiting for change,” he said.

He said: “PTI has its finger on the pulse of the masses. That’s why we say people are responding to Imran Khan’s public meeting. This is what we witnessed in Sukkur and Dadu and now we will see it in Hyderabad.”

He said that PTI stood for democracy while PML-N sought to degrade institutions and Maryam Nawaz did it again in Lahore after by-election victory, which the PML-N won “after bribing people”.

“Still, the ruling party has suffered a decline of 30,000 in its votes in NA-120 which is considered their stronghold,” he said.

He said that PTI had held a meeting with civil society and other stakeholders on the preparation of the party’s manifesto which would be truly reflective of Sindh’s issues. Recommendations of Sindh would be incorporated in the manifesto and they would be implemented in letter and spirit, he said.

“PTI is an alternative for Sindh. PPP’s Dadu public meeting was a failed show despite millions of rupees expenditure,” he said.

PTI’s deputy secretary general Imran Ismail said that only one individual who was neither a Bhutto nor a Zardari felt offended whenever Imran Khan talked about change in Sindh.

“You will see natural response of people to Tuesday’s public meeting as it will not have ‘rented crowd’. You get worried when Imran Khan raises slogan of change,” he said.

Liaquat Jatoi said that he would move Sindh High Court over alleged corruption of Zardari. People told him in Tando Allahyar that lands were being occupied after kidnapping landowners, he said.

Sadaqat Jatoi and Zulfikar Halepoto were also present at the press conference.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017