KARACHI: Former governor and chief minister of Sindh Mumtaz Bhutto, who last week merged his Sindh National Front (SNF) with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), said on Monday that his new political association was based on an ideology and that the merger would only last if the PTI fulfilled its commitments about Sindh.

Talking to reporters after a meeting with a PTI delegation led by Dr Arif Alvi here, he said the decision about the SNF’s merger with the PTI had been taken in the larger interest of Sindh.

Mr Bhutto criticised the performance of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s provincial government and said it was responsible for poor governance in Sindh.

Bad governance had deteriorated institutions and caused the collapse of civic infrastructures in the province, he added.

Answering a question about his chequered political history in which he was sometimes found joining some political alliances and at other times merging his SNF with other parties, Mr Bhutto said he had always preferred the interests of Sindh in his political decisions.

He claimed that Sindh’s interest had never been a priority of major political parties of the country.

He explained that he had joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on one-point agenda — development in Sindh.

But, he added, unfortunately the government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had failed to fulfil its commitments.

He said he had informed PTI chairman Imran Khan about the problems of Sindh and conveyed to him that his support for the PTI would continue only if his party fulfilled its commitments for Sindh.

Dr Alvi said the merger of the SNP with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was the beginning of change in the political mindset of Sindh’s people.

He claimed that the people of Sindh had now realised that the PPP had always exploited them in the name of democracy and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

He said the people of Sindh were now looking towards Imran Khan with hope because they wanted honest leadership in the province.

He claimed that there was a political vacuum in Sindh and that the PTI progressed well in the province over the past one year.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2017