SIALKOT, Sept 15: The loyalty shift by the Variyo family is a big blow to PML(Junejo) leader Hamid Nasir Chattha.

The Variyos — ex-MNA Ch Akhtar Ali Variyo, who has been convicted by an accountability court recently, former federal minister Ch Abdul Sattar Variyo, presently in NAB custody, ex-provincial minister Ch Khush Akhtar Subhani (on bail by an accountability court on medical grounds) and ex-MPA Ch Armughan Subhani — joined the PML-QA camp on Sunday night.

The “government-backed” deal was reportedly struck between Variyo family and PML-QA about a month ago, but it was announced late last night.

The PML-QA, it was learnt, wanted the Variyos on their side to ‘conquer’ Sialkot, known as a PML-N stronghold.

Sources said Akhtar Ali Variyo, who has not been arrested since his conviction, held meetings with senior government officials in Islamabad before making the deal public.

People close to the family say Akhtar Ali will himself launch the PML-QA election campaign in Sialkot district for minimizing the influence of the PML-N and PPP.

Akhtar Ali also participated in the election campaign of Sialkot district Nazim Mian Javaid but no law enforcing agency arrested him.

Under the deal, the PML-QA has awarded its tickets to Ch Khush Akhtar Subhani for PP-125 (Sialkot) and Ch Armughan Subhani for PP-127 (Sialkot).

On the national front, the PML-QA has fielded former district naib nazim Ali Asjad Malhi from NA-113 (Daska-cum-Pasrur) and retired senior bureaucrat Zahid Hamid, elder brother of former governor Shahid Hamid, from NA-114. However, Ch Abdul Sattar Variyo and his son Chaudhry Armughan Subhani have already filed papers from both the seats. Will they contest as independents or withdraw is not yet clear.

A sources claimed the Variyo-PML-QA deal was for the provincial seats only.

General Bus Stand: The General Bus Stand here does not have adequate facilities for either transporters or passengers.

The first thing that strikes a visitor to the bus-stand is congestion. The place was constructed for 300 buses, but now has to accommodate 800. The bus-stand needs to be expanded. Several acres are lying vacant adjacent to it and can be used for the purpose.

A transporter told this reporter that the bus-stand had been neglected by the authorities concerned, who were more interested in making money than looking after the welfare of the tax-paying transporters. They seldom visit the place, he added.

The whole bus-stand turns into a muddy lake after rain, which the passengers have to cross risking falls and injuries and getting splattered with mud as the buses pass by.

There is no drinking water or even a waiting-room at the decades-old bus-stand. Streetlights are far too few. There are no resting rooms for drivers and conductors or sheds for washing buses. Sanitation is in a shambles. There is a dearth of sheds even for parking the buses.