LARKANA: Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, president of Pakistan Peoples Party Sindh chapter, has called Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address to the nation ‘disappointing’ and said he mentioned father of the nation several times but failed to implement his vision as he had taken eight ministers in his cabinet who were once part of retired Gen Musharraf’s regime.

“Let us see what the prime minister will deliver during the first 100 days of his rule,” said Mr Khuhro at a press conference at Larkana Press Club on Monday.

He said the prime minister’s failure to mention Gen Musharraf in his address meant a lot. He should have told the nation in clear terms that he would bring the former military dictator back to court, he said, adding that violation of the Constitution was at the root of all problems.

He said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leadership suffered from “short-term memory loss” as not long ago PTI had supported Gen Musharraf’s “unconstitutional” referendum. What made Mr Khan similar to Musharraf was his selection of the cabinet members and his address which was largely identical to the seven-point agenda of Gen Musharraf, he said.

Unfortunately, Mr Khuhro said, the country would now be ruled by those who did not have a genuine right to rule, but at the same time he supported continuity of democratic and parliamentary system in the country.

He said the new rulers were suffering from myopia and they could not befool the entire nation for long. For the sake of continuity of democratic system in the country the institutions would have to accept civil governments, he said.

He said that Sindh would present its viewpoint before the federal government about its share and right in water and National Finance Commission award. “At present, we are getting less water than our just share and Sindh government is fully determined to have its rights linked with NFC,” he said.

He said that Indus River System Authority was being controlled by Wapda in contravention of settled laws and “we will not accept or tolerate it”. A massive quantum of Sindh’s water share was being stolen through 1,500 illegally installed heavy lift machines from Taunsa to Panjnad, he said, adding the claimants of ‘new Pakistan’ and the federal government should take measures to stop this water theft.

Asked about the causes that led to his defeat on PS-11 (Larkana-II) in general election, Mr Khuhro said the party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had sought detailed reports from the constituencies where the party’s candidates had lost.

It would be a sort of post-election exercise to assess reasons behind the defeats and make future decisions in light of the reports submitted by the party office-bearers in the constituencies in question, he said.

About unilateral decision to nominate Aitzaz Ahsan as PPP’s candidate for the president’s slot, he said that Mr Ahsan would remain the party’s candidate even though he failed to get any support from opposition parties.

Local leaders of the party Abdul Fatah Bhutto, Nooruddin Abro, Shakeel Memon and others were also present at the press conference. Mr Khuhro along with Senator Dr Sikandar Mandhro later visited Lalurounk village to offer condolence on the death of former PPP lawmaker Ghulam Mujtaba Isran.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2018