KARACHI, Aug 10: Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and Deputy Secretary-General of the PPP Mina Raza Rabbani on Wednesday slammed the government for “stopping Awam Dost candidates from contesting the local government elections.”

“The acts of desperation are evident from the firing at MNA Nawab Yousuf Talpur on Tuesday and the implicating MNA Pir Aftab Shah Jillani in a false case of murder,” he said, adding that “such acts on the part of the government are condemned in strongest terms.

In a statement issued by the party’s media cell at the Bilawal House, Mian Rabbani said that the government had failed to keep Awam Dost candidates away from the elections despite subjecting them, as well as their proposers and seconders, to institutionalized kidnappings at the hands of police, civil administration and armed gangs patronized by the government.

He said that the opposition candidates were being tortured and forced to change their loyalties or withdraw from the elections. Even women candidates were not spared, he alleged, adding that after having failed to break PPP workers’ resolve, the Government had now resorted to such third degree tactics.

Mr Rabbani alleged that the election office of an Awam Dost candidate in UC Mirpur Old had been attacked by armed PML supporters who used weapons in the said attack.

Referring to the Aug 9 incident, he recalled that MNA Nawab Yousuf Talpur, Mir Munawwar Talpur, Ali Maedan Shah, Murad Talpur and Taimur Talpur had been attacked with fire arms at Samaro, Umerkot. He deplored that police were refusing to register FIR of the incident.

The PML cadre, and the government servants acting as a tool in their hands, must not forget that they would be held accountable in a PPP government, he warned, adding that no amount of intimidation or threat could break the will of PPP workers.

Mian Rabbani declared: “We have withstood the dark days of Zia’s military rule. The PML will be crushed by the strength of the people at the ballot box.”