KARACHI: While Prime Minister Imran Khan is holding out an olive branch to the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government to improve working relations between the Centre and the province, the PPP has announced that it will hold a ‘strong’ protest in Karachi on Oct 3 against the federal government in a clear indication that any thaw in the strained relations is unlikely to occur anytime soon.

The PPP announced on Wednesday that the protest was against the federal government of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf over growing inflation, unjust water distribution from the centre and severe crisis of electricity and gas supply in Sindh and most importantly any possible move to run the province from Islamabad.

The decision to organise the protest was taken at a meeting of the PPP’s Karachi chapter. Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani, who is also the city president of the party, chaired the meeting.

The participants discussed the possibility of organising a ‘huge’ rally on Oct 18 to mark the anniversary of the 2007 suicide attack on the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming convoy.

Later, speaking at a press conference, the PPP leaders said that the people of Pakistan in general and Sindh in particular were suffering due to ‘incompetence’ of the PTI government and it was high time for them to take to streets and register a protest against “selected rulers”.

“The people in rural Sindh, who are already facing a great deal of problems in making both ends meet are now being deprived of even water,” said Mr Ghani.

“The situation for Sindh farmers is turning worst. When it comes to urban areas, they only receive promises one after another. The package of Rs1.1 trillion was announced and then promises of renewing old projects, but nothing is seen on the ground,” he said. “There’s always a threatening tone of federal ministers to undermine and weaken the elected provincial government.”

He also warned the PTI government that any ‘unconstitutional step’ to weaken the provincial government in Sindh to run the province from Islamabad would lead to a strong public reaction and the people would not tolerate any ‘parallel system’ for the second largest province of the country.

The PPP leader asked the federal government to give up all those plans which it was ‘hatching’ against the Sindh government and wait for the next general elections for people’s verdict.

“The federal government is making a mockery of Pakistan all over the world,” Mr Ghani claimed and added that irreparable loss to the economy was made by Prime Minister Imran Khan and his cabinet, which would take years to be fixed.

“The PPP can’t stay aloof in this situation. We have decided to take out a strong protest rally on Oct 3, which will prove to be a verdict of people against the PTI government and its selected leaders. I suggest my PTI friends to mark my words that Sindh will only be run under the peoples rule,” he said.

“The PTI leaders are dreaming of government in Sindh and they can as it is their right, but they should not threaten Sindh. The people of Sindh are not impressed with such threats and they will not accept any such decision from the federal government,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2021