Former PPP MNA decides to contest independently

Faqir Sher Muhammad Bilalani unhappy with party's selection of election candidates from Tharparkar

HYDERABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) ex-MNA from Tharparkar district, Faqir Sher Muhammad Bilalani, has emerged as yet another former legislator from Sindh to have declared rebellion against his party.

At a press conference in Tharparkar, Sher Muhammad said he will contest as an independent candidate against PPP's candidate, Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani, in the Islamkot-based PS-56 constituency.

"The party has made wrong decisions in its selection of candidates from Tharparkar," he asserted. His son, Faqir Faiz Muhammad Bilalani, and an associate, Raees Abdul Ghani Khoso, will also vie as independent candidates from NA-222 and PS-55 constituencies respectively.

Sher Muhammad said that though he has not decided to part ways with the PPP, if the party took disciplinary action against him, he will exercise his right to decide his future prospects of working with some other party. He complained that the most deserving candidates like him have been ignored.



"I have been associated with the PPP since 1974, but now because of its wrong decisions I have opted to contest against the PPP candidate," he said.

According to him, so far, he has neither negotiated with Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) nor Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), but he did not rule out a future possibility.

"This is my final decision to contest as an independent candidate. No one should expect that I will prepare in favour of any other candidate," he claimed.

Tharparkar-based leaders of the PPP reportedly visited Sher Muhammad's house to convince him to withdraw the press conference but they returned unsuccessful.



Islamkot taluka has attained greater significance thanks to the Thar coal project. The Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company is executing a coal mining and power generation project and two other power production companies are already working in the taluka. The district's first airport, Mai Bakhtawar International Airport, has also been built in Islamkot.

Sher Muhammad has reportedly been contacted by PTI Vice-Chairperson Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who will be contending from Tharparkar's NA-221 constituency. Talking to the media in Tharparkar, the PTI leader said his party is ready to form an election alliance with any political party which is fighting against the PPP in Sindh.



"An alliance has already been formed among the Hurr Jamaat of Pir Pagara's, Sarwari Jamaat of Makhdooms of Hala and our Ghausia Jamaat. We will support each other's candidates in Sindh," he disclosed.

GDA leader and former chief minister of Sindh, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, whose family is one of the most politically influential families in Tharparkar, has announced support for Qureshi. An alliance among the GDA, PTI and dismayed former leaders and workers of the PPP is likely to pose a threat to the latter, which won both the NA and three out of four PS seats from Tharparkar in the 2013 election.