This was stated by Syed Awais Muzaffar alias Tappi, said to be a foster brother of President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday.
“There have been alliances in the past including IJI (Islami Jamhoori Ittehad). They [rivals] have made a 20 party, a tea party and now a ten party. However, PPP is in a comfortable position,” he said.
Muzaffar landed at Hyderabad airport and left the same evening. He visited the shrine of Sakhi Abdul Wahab Shah Jillani during his stay.
He was accompanied by a number of local PPP leaders including Senator Aajiz Dhamra, PPP’s candidate for PS-47 Jam Khan Shoro, PPP women wing president and former MNA Shagufta Jumani, Hina Dastagir and divisional president youth wing, Ahsan Abro.
Muzaffar visited the residence Sufi Attaullah of Jhoke Sharif (Thatta) in Defence where Attaullah’s brother Sufi Mehboob announced his decision of joining PPP.
Kaleem Khanzada of youth wing announced his withdrawal from PS-48. Later, he met Mir Fateh Talpur, who also agreed to withdraw from the electoral race against the party’s candidate Jam Khan Shoro.
“You better ask this question as to why they [rivals] are targeting me. I say that journalists should visit Thatta and ask questions from the people whether what they [rivals] are saying is true and what they [opponents] have done,” said Awais.
When it was specifically pointed out that his opponents (in Thatta) have capitalised their election campaign in Thatta’s PS-88 constituency against the backdrop of an alleged linkage between him, Zulfikarabad project and land deals, he replied: “They always run their campaign on the basis of mudslinging but PPP has always served the people. The PPP works for the masses... we work for the people and we don’t level accusations against anyone.”
About multiple nominations of PPP’s activists in different constituencies, he said they had filed their candidacies as covering candidates and were withdrawing gradually. “We don’t have any problem,” he remarked.
“It is the party’s decision. We have a party system while it was for the candidate to apply, it is for the party to give tickets to anyone,” he replied when asked as to why he had chosen to contest from PS-88 of Thatta despite the fact he applied to run from PS-50 (Tandojam) as well.
He didn’t answer whether the PPP would form a coalition if the situation allows so. “Only time will tell!” he said as he boarded his bullet proof Pajero for the airport.
Security Risk
Meanwhile, SSP Hyderabad Saqib Memon told this scribe that there is a threat to the life of Syed Awais Muzaffar as per a recent Special Branch report.
The police official further added: “We provided protocol to Nawaz Sharif a couple of days ago too. There was a Special Branch report about a threat to Muzaffar’s life, so I have to see to it personally.”
He also said that there have been reports that Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan plans to target around 40 candidates. A candidate of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has already been gunned down in Hyderabad.
“We have not given Muzaffar any special treatment or special security. There was only a traffic route mobile and nothing else,” the SSP said.
He also said that his (SSP)’s) presence at the airport was only to make sure that security is properly managed, because if anything unpleasant happens, ‘it is the police that will be held answerable’.