Anti-PPP support: Stage set for PTI rally in Bhuttos’ bastion

Imran says he will ‘wake up’ the people of interior Sindh and provide them an alternative to the PPP

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI:

A day ahead of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s planned rally in Larkana district, party chief Imran Khan announced he would ‘wake up’ the people of Interior Sindh who he said have been denied their rights by the ruling elite.

“Enough is enough … Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has misused the name of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to secure a sixth consecutive term in Sindh and amass millions, but we will give the people of the province an alternative,” he told supporters at D-chowk on Thursday as PTI’s sit-in continued for the 99th consecutive day.



“We will reach Larkana on Friday [today] … the people of Karachi have risen up already and now it is time for Interior Sindh,” the PTI chief said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, sources said PTI has finalised arrangements for today’s [Friday’s] rally in Larkana.

The venue, they said, would not be Larkana city as originally planned, though. Instead, the gathering will be held some 10km away in Aliabad village, home of the Unar family which has a political rivalry with the PPP.

The last-minute change of venue led to rumours that the move was prompted by threats, particularly from PPP workers. But Nadir Akmal Leghari, president of PTI’s Sindh chapter, refuted such reports.

“There was no bar on the part of local administration. We have selected this venue given the Multan incident where many people lost their lives in the stampede. We want to hold the event in an open area where we can have parking facility and people can easily enter and leave the venue,” he said.

According to reports, PTI’s Sindh chapter has been able to garner support of both anti-PPP groups and parties, and disgruntled PPP workers, particularly the Abbasi family. Mumtaz Bhutto and the feudal clan of Kamariyos have also extended their support to the PTI event.

Shafqat Unar, the chief organiser of the event, said that while a majority of participants will be coming from Larkana district, they were also expecting busloads from Umerkot, Tharparkar, Ghotki, Sukkur, Daharki, Khairpur, Jacobabad and Mirpurkhas.

Unar, however, claimed the government had already started creating hurdles. “PTI supporters are being arrested and harassed, posters and banners of our party are being removed and roads leading to Larkana are being blocked,” he said.

While analysts who follow politics in Upper Sindh are already calling PTI’s planned rally in Larkana district a successful move, some intellectuals were disheartened by induction of some ‘notorious’ feudal lords in the party.

Zulfikar Rajpar, a well-known Sindhi author, said the Unars have changed around half a dozen parties in the last two years. “They (feudal lords) rule with terror in their area, how one can expect positive things through these people? No change, but the status quo will continue with these people,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2014.