THE anti-PPP slogans and stoning by angry people at Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s election rally motorcade in Lyari should not astonish political pundits, it is an eye opener and shows there is a limit to the people’s patience. For a straight 48 years Lyari has been a bastion of the Peoples’ Party but received little in return, especially in the last 10 years.

Soon after the incident, the PPP leaders held a press conference and claimed that an attempt was made to create a law and order situation. Another PPP leader, who never tires of flaunting his Lyari connections, blamed the Kutchi community for the incident. He attempted to give the matter an ethnic twist by trying to play off the Baloch and Kutchi communities against each other.

This leader conveniently forgot that the Baloch and Kutchi communities have lived alongside each other for almost 150 years peacefully. Shame on him for trying to ignite ethnic unrest in a city which is returning to normalcy after 35 years.

If the PPP government — which has been in power since 2008 — had provided Lyari with basic amenities of life it would not have cut such a sorry figure. The political scene is fast changing. Mere rhetoric and empty promises will not suffice. Stand and deliver or be prepared to face the electorate’s wrath — through the ballot box.

Altaf Hussain

Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2018