BADIN: Estranged Pakistan Peoples Party leader and former home minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza and his spouse Dr Fehmida Mirza on Tuesday declared in unequivocal terms that they and their family would not return to the party.

They vowed to wage a vigorous campaign against PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, his sister MNA Faryal Talpur and their close associates in Badin and other districts in the days to come.

The Mirzas repeated allegations of massive corruption against the PPP leaders and Sindh government functionaries, claiming that they had ruined the province and devastated its people.

The fresh tirade came at a big public meeting at DC Chowk where the Mirzas were believed to announce their future political path amid strong rumours of their possible joining of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). The rumours were fanned by the Mirzas’ meetings with PTI top brass in recent days. However, no such announcement came at the public show on Tuesday.

Speaking to an emotionally charged crowd, Dr Mirza said: “The incompetent and corrupt PPP clique ruling over Sindh has broken all records of corruption ... Asif Zardari and his cronies are responsible for the present state of affairs in the entire province”.

He claimed that people of Badin were deprived of water for supporting him, his family and aides in the previous local government election. “The vision of PPP’s founding leaders has already been buried by Asif Zardari and his corrupt associates,” he observed.

Dr Mirza vowed to continue his fight for the rights of the people of Badin, the rest of Sindh and the country. He urged the people of other districts to join hands with him to get rid of corrupt elements ruling over Sindh.

“The days of the brother and sister [alluding to Mr Zardari and Ms Talpur] are numbered,” he told the crowd.

He alleged that the share of poor farmers in irrigation water was being diverted to the lands of Zardaris and their associates.

Dr Mirza’s elder son Barrister Hasnain Mirza in his speech vowed to hand a humiliating defeat to the PPP. He said this power show was a referendum against those [PPP leaders] who had plundered the public money and deprived people of their basic rights.

Former National Assembly speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza accused the Sindh government of destroying all departments by resorting to massive corruption. She said her family had always done politics for the benefit of the masses and would continue to do the same in future.

She said that while serving as MNA and speaker, she repeatedly took up the issues of water crisis, corruption and excesses against farmers in Sindh but the inept and corrupt functionaries paid no heed to her calls.

She recalled that the PPP leadership used police force against her family when her husband raised his voice against injustices and corruption.

“Police contingents besieged our Mourjhar farmhouse and implicated us in false and fabricated cases. We got relief from courts,” she said, adding that her family did not bow to pressure and would not do so in future. She said her family would not seek a party ticket from the PPP leadership for the next election.

She said she had remained silent for five years [over the atrocities] because she was elected on a PPP ticket, “but now we are free to make decisions on our own”.

Dr Fehmida Mirza said that nobody would be allowed to cause harm to state institutions. She said [ousted prime minister] Nawaz Sharif was trying to destroy the institutions but all such attempts would be foiled.

Badin PPP leaders slam Dr Mirza’s tirade

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders hailing from Badin district on Tuesday warned estranged party colleague Dr Zulfikar Mirza to “mend his ways” and stop using foul language against the party’s co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari.

Speaking at a gathering of PPP activists and supporters in Khoski town, Mohammed Aslam Rahu, Bibi Yasmin Shah, Gul Mohammed Jakhrani, Bashir Ahmed Halepoto, Haji Sain Bukhsh Jamali, Mohammed Chandio and others alleged that Dr Mirza — once a confidante of Mr Zardari — had betrayed his mentor.

“He will face the wrath of Badin people, who will make Dr Mirza’s life miserable, if he does not stop using abusive language against Mr Zardari and certain other PPP leaders,” they said.

They told the audience that the Mirzas would gain nothing through their malicious campaign against the PPP.

They rejected opponents’ propaganda about a rift within the Badin chapter of PPP, saying that all party leaders and colleagues were united under the high command.

The PPP leaders also criticised ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif for his statements quoted in his recent interview, and said that Mr Sharif had committed a blunder by dragging national institutions into the [November 2008] Mumbai carnage.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2018