KARACHI: The Grand Demo­­­cratic Alliance (GDA) warned on Wedn­esday that it would not tolerate any ‘rigging like the past’ in the province in the upcoming general elections and demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan to ensure a level playing field for all parties, particularly in Sindh.

The alliance was confident that it would form the next government in Sindh with the support of its allies, bringing down the ‘15-year rule of corruption’ of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The leaders of the alliance claimed that anger ran high among the people of Sindh against the PPP’s decades-long corruption, but had increased after the floods in 2022. “The people of Sindh were left abandoned to drown in the floods,” said GDA leader Syed Zainuddin Shah while addressing the alliance’s parliamentary committee meeting.

“The people are still homeless and have lost everything. The repercussion of the deadliest flood would lead to the political death of PPP as the people of Sindh would not forgive it for exploiting their miseries to raise funds and make money,” he said.

The people of Sindh, he added, from Kashmore to Karachi, had suffered due to corruption and bad governance during the last 15 years and they would settle the score in the Feb 8 elections. The GDA’s manifesto was a reflection of people’s aspirations and it promised welfare of every single person in Sindh, he said.

“It’s our commitment and honesty that people are now looking towards GDA and we would form the next government with the support of our allies and supporters. We also want strong and fair accountability along with the general elections,” he said.

The meeting was also attended by Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Liaquat Jatoi, Dr Safar Abbassi, Sardar Abdul Rahim and other senior leaders.

A statement issued after the meeting said that the board had interviewed interested workers and supporters of the GDA for the upcoming elections. The process to decide the names of candidates, it said, was on and would be finalised soon.

It said that the GDA had set certain criteria for the candidates and the parliamentary board would look into requests of all those aspirants considering their merit and commitment with the ideological cause of the alliance.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2024