NAWABSHAH, April 16: Tired of frequent visits by candidates of different political parties and utterly disappointed in their performance, villagers of Allah Dino Panhwar near here have hung banners at the village entrance inscribed with a take-it-or-leave-it offer; “resolve issues and get votes”.
Villagers Imam Ali Panhwar and Ali Asghar Panhwar told journalists here on Tuesday that a committee of villagers had decided that they would cast vote in favour of any candidate who provided gas to and got a 100 KV transformer installed for the village.
Until now, they said, they had remained loyal voters of PPP. When they voted for the party five years ago they were assured that this time all their problems would be solved but they got nothing as usual.
The villagers had been voting for the party since 1970 but the candidates never bothered to return to their village after getting votes and no development work had been carried out in their settlement nor any villager had been given any job.
Peasant ready to take on big shots Wajihuddin Machi, a peasant, who is in the run for NA-213 (Nawabshah-I) against the likes of Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, sister of President Asif Zardari, Rauf Siddiqui of MQM, Sardar Sher Mohammed Rind of PML-N and Syed Zahid Hussain of PML-F, says he is receiving threats from influential landlords asking him to withdraw from the contest.
He said at a press conference at Nawabshah Press Club on Tuesday that the landlords were threatening him that they would expel him from the village if he did not pull out of the race of NA seat.
He claimed that he had worked as a peasant for President Asif Ali Zardari from 1995 till 2010 but received salary for only two years.
“When I announced running for NA-213 against Dr Pechuho, people called me insane and many turned my enemies,” he said.
But he told his critics he was not insane but fulfilled all conditions laid down for candidates in Article 62 and 63 of the constitution, he said.
If he won he would work for the betterment of poor people of his constituency, he said.
“My nomination papers have been accepted and now even if my opponents offered me all their wealth I won’t withdraw,” he said.
He appealed to the chief election commissioner, district returning officer and returning officer to provide him complete security as he had challenged the big shots of his area.
He concluded his press conference with a sentence from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s famous speech. “There are two Bhuttos, one standing in front of you and the other are you, each and every one of you,” so I am also a Bhutto, he said.
