LARKANA: Senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Nisar Khuhro, who is the party’s Sindh president, has condemned the fresh wave of terrorism in the country, saying that the series of suicide bombings could be a conspiracy to get the July 25 election postponed and sabotage democratic forces’ electioneering.

He was speaking at various corner meetings of PPP candidates here on Saturday.

Mr Khuhro called for ensuring the holding of the election on July 25.

“The blasts in Mastung and other parts of the country put a question mark on caretaker government’s performance,” he said, and declared in categorical terms that his would not limit electioneering in the wake of the terrorist attacks targeting political gatherings.

He demanded from the caretaker set-up to provide security to leaders and candidates of PPP and other parties and participants in their election campaigns across the country.

He termed it double-standards’ “where the ladla, the supporter of terrorists is given security and PPP is advised to contain its political activities”.

The senior PPP leader criticised Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) candidate Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soomro, who is contesting against PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on NA-200 Larkana-I constituency, and regretted that PPP had supported his father [slain Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl leader], Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, in becoming a senator but in return the JUI-F “deceived” PPP by not voting for PPP candidate Farhatullah Babar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Khuhro also criticised politics of the anti-PPP Grand Democratic Alliance saying that some of its components supported the Kalabagh dam project and some others a division of Sindh while they together claimed to be sincere with the people of Sindh. He said the GDA would vanish once and for all after the upcoming election.

No ‘Bhutto’ seen in contest: Maulana Soomro

Maulana Soomro, who is the Sindh president of MMA and also provincial general secretary of JUI-F, also addressed a rally here on Saturday.

Besides criticising PPP’s poor performance in its 10 years of rule over the province, massive corruption and unpopular policies, Maulana Soomro told his supporters that it was height of ignorance that today seven candidates from the Zardari clan were fielded by the PPP [in Larkana district] but not a single one belonged to the Bhutto clan.

Zardari league not PPP, says GDA

GDA candidate and PPP-Workers chairman Dr Safdar Abbasi, who is contesting for the PS-15 Qambar-Shahdadkot-II constituency, told an election rally in Behram town on Saturday that ‘arrow’ was not the symbol of Benazir Bhutto’s PPP.

“[PPP co-chairman] Asif Ali Zardari, after burying Benazir Bhutto’s politics, occupied the party and turned it into Zardari league,” he alleged, warning that by raising the slogan of ‘Jeay Bhutto’, they [Zardari’s party] were fooling the masses.

Dr Abbasi said that an acute shortage of irrigation water across Sindh, unavailability of basic facilities in most parts of the province were the glaring example of the PPP’s performance over the last 10 years of rule.

Hindus told to vote for SUP

Sindh United Party (SUP) candidate for PS-11 Larkana-II constituency Jagdesh Ahuja spoke at a reception hosted for him by the Larkana Hindu Panchayat Committee (HPC) at the local dharmashala on Saturday.

He said the SUP had challenged the forces that treated politics as a business and used the masses as ladder to reach the power corridors.

He said Hindus were tremendously contributing to the progress of Larkana and the community was playing its due role in its development.

Awami Jamhoori Party (AJP) president Amanullah Shaikh told the audience that Ahuja had stood up against feudal lords, and urged the Hindu community to vote for him.

Larkana HPC chairman Dr Dharampal, Mukhi Santosh Kumar, Anita Panjani, Aishwar Lal (Sukkur HPC chairman) and others in their speeches extended support to Ahuja.

Earlier, SUP workers and supporters took out a motorcycle rally in the city as part of the party’s door-to-door election campaign.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2018