HYDERABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh has said that Sindh’s next chief minister and mayor of Hyderabad will be PTI men.

He said at a large gathering of party workers in Bagh-i-Mustafa ground in Latifabad to mark the 23rd foundation day of PTI on Friday night that the party would contest local bodies elections with its symbol of bat and without forming any alliance.

He said that Imran Khan had become prime minister with masses’ support after 23 years’ struggle and he was the only true leader of people. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was called peoples’ leader but according to Omar Ayub, Bhutto used to call Gen Ayub daddy and the general had made him foreign minister. Bhutto became prime minister at the cost of dismemberment of the country, he said.

Similarly, he said, Gen Chishti discovered Nawaz Sharif and Gen Zia made him a leader. All those who claimed to be peoples’ leaders were products of dictatorship. One could not become leader after merely delivering speeches or having just ceased taking “pacifiers” to become leaders, he said.

He said that half of the ministers in Sindh government including chief minister were facing cases by National Accountability Bureau. The Sindh government received Rs1,000 billion of which Rs957bn were stomached according to the auditor general of Pakistan’s report, he said.

He said that even zakat funds were not spared. Those who could not rid Sindh of overflowing gutters and improving health and education sectors were claiming to build the province, he said.

He said that PTI people should not have to quarrel among themselves as the next Hyderabad mayor and Sindh chief minister would be from PTI. The party was least concerned whether someone was a ‘sahib’ or ‘sahiba’, he said, adding that PPP had become party of Asif Zardari on the basis of Benazir Bhutto’s “will”.

Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi said that his party would bring change in Sindh and Asif Zardari would not be able to get away because of ‘Pappu’.

He said that Imran Khan abhorred corruption and would expel anyone found involved in the crime while Asif Zardari had come from the party which was known for “ten and ninety per cent”. People would have to rise to change their destiny, he said.

MNA Jai Parkash, Sindh Assembly member Jamal Siddiqui, Jamshed Shaikh, Q. Hakim and Khawand Bux Jahejo also spoke at the gathering where workers also let off fireworks amid party songs.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2019