UMERKOT, March 28: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) believes that free and fair elections are impossible in the presence of President Asif Ali Zardari but there is a ray of hope that the independent judiciary and free media will be able to foil all attempts at rigging.
This was stated by PTI senior vice president and spiritual leader of the Ghousia Jamaat Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi here on Thursday.
Mr Qureshi, who visited Umerkot to file his nomination papers for NA-228, spoke to the media at the residence of Qasim Siraj Soomro, a Pakistan Muslim League-Functional candidate. He also addressed a public meeting organised by Lal Malhi, who has recently quit the PPP and joined the PTI.
The PTI leader said that the Pakistan Peoples Party had lost its roots in its electorate. “The PPP is hit by disintegration and this is evident from [PPP chairman] Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s abrupt departure for Dubai,” he said, adding that cracks had already appeared in the PPP leadership and this was bound to affect its vote bank.
Mr Qureshi observed that elected representatives belonging to the PPP had adopted rude behaviour towards its workers and voters over its five years of rule. Within that period, he added, people had stopped pinning any hopes on the PPP, which had kept them at a distance until its term was over.
“Benazir Bhutto took care of party workers and supporters and she also addressed problems and issues conveyed to her by PPP voters and other people, but no one from among the present party leadership followed in her footsteps,” he said, claiming that the very reason was behind Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s parting ways with his father on party issues.
The PTI chief said that the introduction of a controversial local government system had dealt a heavy blow to the party’s vote bank in Sindh and the PPP might not be able to repair the damage. The party has also got its vote bank in Punjab and other provinces damaged, he added.
He observed that the minorities in Sindh had been living in an atmosphere of fear and harassment. “The Ghousia Jamaat and Pir Sahib Pagara’s Hur Jamaat undertake protection to minorities if we are voted to power,” he declared.
Terming the former PPP-led government a weak one, he said Asif Ali Zardari and his PPP could not even expose and punish Benazir Bhutto’s assassins.
“The PPP government also failed to maintain law and order and curb extortion, corruption, loadshedding and inflation. Besides, it could not overcome energy crisis and unemployment,” he said.
He regretted that most parts of the province were badly affected by floods but the areas and their population could not be rehabilitated as yet.
“The genuine PPP was buried in Garhi Khuda Bukhsh with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto,” Mr Qureshi remarked, and said that the party led by Asif Ali Zardari was Zardari League and not the PPP.
He said he had already revolted against the Zardari League and would hand a defeat to its candidates for NA-228 and NA-230 with the support of Pir Pagara and Arbab Ghulam Rahim. Lal Malhi, Qasim Siraj Soomro, Faqir Jadam Mangrio, Dost Muhammad Memon, Rana Hameer Singh and others also addressed the public gathering.
Earlier, Mr Qureshi was accorded a warm welcome by his disciples and workers of PTI and PML-Functional.