UMERKOT: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan Peoples Party had earlier received sympathy votes in the name of its slain leader Benazir Bhutto — though it failed to pursue her case in court — and the party is poised to exploit her name once again to get elected.

Mr Qureshi said at a largely attended Diwali celebration in Lamba ground here on Friday that ‘stranglehold’ of God would soon tighten round the necks of the unscrupulous rulers who had plundered national resources.

He felicitated members of Hindu community on their religious festival and said that every era had its own devils like Pharaoh. It was, however, up to people to choose between the good and the bad as their leaders, he said.

He said the war between good and evil continued. He had observed and listened to ordeals of people and he felt the time had come to comfort their wounds. The PTI workers had been politically victimised and the government employees had been transferred in punishment for sympathising with the party in Umerkot, he said.

PTI MNA Dr Arif Alvi predicted that PPP would not come to power in upcoming elections. “Zardari! it’s now your turn to face accountability like Nawaz Sharif and hang downward to gorge out the public money gobbled up over the years,” he said.

He said that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had broken the trust of public and he, therefore, would have to face their wrath.

The new Pakistan of Imran Khan would have quality education, health and other civic amenities and the party would boost morale of the countrymen and improve human development index, he said.

PTI leader Mehrunissa Baloch said that poverty level had reached alarming level due to wrong policies of rulers. The jobless youth were suffering from depression and anxiety which was compelling them to commit suicide and indulge in social evils, she said.

She said the country was facing terrorism and extremism thanks to ill-advised foreign policy and no investor was ready to bring money to the country.

The national economy was in the doldrums but the corrupt were getting fatter by the day, she said.

PTI leaders Iftikhar Soomro, Chela Ram, Dost Mohammad Memon, Pir Taj Hussan Jilani and MNA Lalchand Malhi also spoke at the gathering.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2017