BAHAWALPUR, Feb 18: Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) chief Pir Sibghatullah Rashidi says he is seeing a number of hurdles in the way of the next general election in the country.

Speaking to people in Shahr Farid village in Cholistan near Ahmedpur East, about 40 kilometres from here, on Monday, Rashidi, Pir Pagara Sixth, said that among the national political leaders only Nawaz Sharif was serious in the election. He said he would soon meet Sharif for an electoral alliance.

Pagara said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would be defeated in entire Sindh, including Larkana, in the coming election. He accused the PPP of pushing the masses deep into problems during the last five years. He said the PPP government in Sindh promoted “loot sale” of jobs and charged Rs100,000 to Rs200,000 as bribe for the post of a peon.

Pagara said new provinces should be carved out according to people’s aspirations and not according to Punjab Governor Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s wishes. He said that restoration of the Bahawalpur province was a just and constitutional right of the local population and he fully supported this demand.

He said the PPP was politicising the new provinces issue for gains in the next election. He said if the PPP was sincere in creating new provinces, why it did not take up the issue during the last five years. He said the PPP should prove its sincerity with the issue by implementing the resolutions adopted by the Punjab Assembly. He said now the next government would carve out new provinces.

PML-F senior vice-president Muhammad Ali Durrani was also present.