NAWABSHAH, March 27: The Pakistan Peoples Party suffered another setback in Nawabshah after defection of party office-bearers a day ago as elders of the Mahar community who were until recently diehard party workers and wielded bloc votes of their people announced quitting the PPP and fielding their own candidate.

Noorullah Mahar, Mohammad Soomar Mahar, Moula Bux Mahar and Essa Mahar told journalists at the press club here on Wednesday that they had more than 18,000 registered voters in Daur taluka who had always voted for the PPP.

But they had become greatly disappointed with the PPP which had ignored them in provision of jobs and development works in their areas over the past five years of its rule, they said.

Therefore, they had unanimously decided to quit the PPP and participate in general elections independently. They announced fielding Shaukat Mahar for PS-26 (Nawabshah–III) and Samiullah Mahar PS-28 (Nawabshah–V).

Earlier, general secretary of the Nawabshah district PPP and the president of Nawabshah taluka PPP, Fakeer Faiz Mohammed Hisbani and Syed Bagh Ali Shah, respectively, quit the PPP and joined the PML-F.

PPP-SB protest Activists of the Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto observed a black day on Wednesday in protest against rejection of the party’s appeal by the Election Commission of Pakistan for the award of the PPP as party name and sword as election symbol.

A meeting of PPP-SB workers presided over by its leader Mian Khan Rind strongly criticised the commission for registering Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s PPP and said their party was the real PPP. Chairperson Ghinwa Bhutto had filed the application for the party name long ago which was dismissed by the commission, the meeting said.