HYDERABAD: Former Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that political forces should demonstrate unity and coherence as the ongoing confrontation would not benefit democracy at a time when Pakistan is facing a threat of terrorism.

He was speaking at a press conference at the residence of Hyderabad division Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) president Syed Ali Nawaz Shah on Wednesday.

Expressing concerns over the prevailing conditions, he said that although the army chief had attended a briefing of the Senate committee, still people were concerned about the present situation. He said Nawaz Sharif was a careless prime minister and least concerned about the government and people. Had there been development in his tenure, people would not have been blaming him, he said.

He said Nawaz Sharif was the first person in the country who became unpopular despite being in the government. He said Nawaz neglected Sindh and never fulfilled a single promise he made with the province.

He said Sindh had given too much honour to Nawaz Sharif and got the Thar coal project inaugurated by him. But he failed to honour commitments he made regarding Tharparkar and Karachi, he added.

Launching movements as hinted by Sharif was not easy, he said, adding that it was only Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto who had launched real movements. Comparing Nawaz with Asif Zardari, he said the latter had political acumen.

He said political forces must believe in harmony despite having separate ideologies and programmes. One should not talk about things that reflected despondency, he said.

He said the people of Sindh knew the “spent forces” while the PPP’s leadership was strong. Had the PPP not been interested in democracy, a bill on delimitation could not have been adopted in the upper house, he said.

He said the Grand Democratic Alliance leaders formed the government with dictators’ help and after assuming power, they forgot the masses. He said the rural areas of Sindh witnessed 14-hour power outages despite the federal government’s claim that load-shedding had been ended.

About the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, he said millions of people would attend the event on Dec 27.

He said Sindh’s growers should not show haste considering the fact that the Sindh government had already notified sugar cane price of Rs182 per 40kg and sugar mills had started crushing sugar cane. However, he said they had every right to protest.

He said Imran Khan had staged a sit-in for six months, but it was like much ado about nothing. He said the sit-in had become a culture now. He said the public meetings of Imran Khan in Sindh perhaps had blessings of “angels or God’s support”.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2017