Makhdooms of Hala warn of parting ways

HYDERABAD:

Founding members of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Makhdooms of Hala, have threatened to part ways with the party after an association of nearly five decades.

The warning came on Sunday after a meeting of the Sarwari Jamaat in Hala, Matiari district, which was chaired by the organisation's spiritual leader Makhdoom Jameeluz Zaman, who is also a provincial minister.

"Supporters of Sarwari Jamaat voted for the PPP across Sindh but they are being ignored," complained Zaman, saying the Sindh chief minister should also be from Jamaat.  Zaman became spiritual head of the Jamaat after the demise of his father, Makhdoom Amin Faheem, who was president of the PPP.

He asked elected legislators and the Sindh government to address the grievances of the Jamaat. "I am requesting you [PPP's Sindh government] today and it should be heard. If not, then the next general elections are coming ... I can part ways with the PPP and field candidates from Jamaat to contest the elections," Zaman warned.

MNA Makhdoom Saeeduz Zaman, brother of late Amin, said Zulfikar Bhutto Jameeluz Zaman should be made PPP's vice chairman.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2016.