LARKANA: The Larkana Awami Ittehad (LAI), which met here on Saturday with its convener, Haji Munawwar Ali Abbasi, in the chair, decided to field Moazzam Abbasi again to contest in the PS-11 (Larkana City) re-election.

The meeting took stock of the prevailing political situation in the country and held consultations with regard to LAI’s strategy for the election.

On Thursday, Supreme Court unseated Moazzam Abbasi, who had won the seat in the general elections on a Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) ticket, while announcing its verdict on a petition filed by his rival candidate, Nida Khuhro of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The apex court ordered re-election for the seat.

The LAI meeting was attended by former Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Sindh president Amir Bakhsh Bhutto, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Larkana district chief Nasir Mehmood Soomro, Sardar Zaffar Hussain Sangi, Adil Khan Unnar, Badaruddin Abbasi and others.

The meeting expressed concern over the SC verdict and resolved to field Moazzam Abbasi for his re-election.

The meeting criticised Sindh government’s interference in the recent bt-election in Ghotki and accused it of breaking all records of rigging.

LAI, therefore, urges the chief election commissioner, chief justice of Pakistan and the prime minister to ensure a transparent re-elections on PS-11, according to a statement issued after the meeting.

It condemned Indian forces’ atrocities in the occupied Kashmir and expressed solidarity with Kashmiris. Registering its grave concern over the unprecedented price hike, LAI flayed fresh increase in the electricity and gas tariffs. It observed that unannounced and prolonged power outages had made peoples’ life miserable.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2019