HYDERABAD, Dec 16: PPP Senator Aajiz Dhamra has rejected ‘startling revelations’ made lately by a number of political leaders that the PPP government itself had reserved funds for Kalabagh dam project in its previous rules.
History was proof enough that PPP had not only played a key role in getting the Kalabagh project rejected through assemblies but its leader Benazir Bhutto had personally taken part in a sit-in staged in protest against the dam project at the Kamoo Shaheed on the National Highway.
He was addressing a press conference at the Circuit House here on Sunday. Leaders of the anti-PPP alliance were misguiding people about burning issues of the province, he said.
He took exception to what he saw as ‘unethical and un-parliamentary’ language of a satirical poem recited by a poet at the PML-F’s public meeting in Hyderabad on Friday.
It was a brazen attempt to provoke PPP workers “but we believe in democratic norms and tolerance and do our best to avoid confrontation among political forces”, he said.
Mr Dhamra accused his party’s opponents of double standards and said that on the one hand the organisers of the public meeting claimed to oppose Kalabagh dam while on the other they provided platform to the speakers of a pro-dam party whose leaders had publicly welcomed the Lahore high court’s decision in favour of the dam.
Similarly, the leaders who did not believe in parliamentary politics were given room on the stage to air their views, he said.
He said that former coalition partners of the government had now joined hands with PPP opponents after having enjoyed all benefits of the government for four and a half years.
He said the ruling party had never created any hindrance to political activities of the opposition nor it would ever do so in future. The party would follow a code of ethics which was equally important for all to follow and in the best interests of all political parties, he said.
Mr Dhamra said the PPP was still the only representative of people of the country, which had been single-handedly holding massive public gatherings, especially on the occasion of death anniversaries of its martyred leaders and other issues of public interest while the PPP rivals’ recent public meeting at Hyderabad was attended by several religious, nationalist and other anti-PPP political parties.
Giving details about events organised by the party in the run up to Dec 27 gathering in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, Mr Dhamra said that a cycle rally would begin from Karachi on Dec 22 for Garhi.
It would reach the Bhuttos’ village on Dec 27. Another convoy of youth led by him would stage a march from Bhit Shah to Garhi on Dec 17, he added.