Certain of victory, GDA names its CM

Pagara claims 10 FIRs have been lodged against his supporters


Our Correspondent July 21, 2018
Ali Gohar Khan Mahar was announced by the GDA chief as the alliance's candidate for the next Sindh chief minister. PHOTO: FILE

HYDERABAD: The Grand Democratic Alliance's (GDA) leader Pir Pagara Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi has declared Ali Gohar Khan Mahar of Ghotki district as the alliance's nominee for the office of the Sindh chief minister. Buoyed by large turnouts at public meetings in the province successively, Pagara expressed hope while speaking at a public meeting in Sukkur that the alliance will form the next provincial government.

"The Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) 10 years in Sindh government will be remembered for destruction of all government departments, a slump in rural economy and unrestrained corruption," he said. "If Maryam Nawaz (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's leader) can be jailed then why can't the thief and plunderers in Sindh be jailed as well."

He claimed that if an impartial inquiry was conducted, both PPP's leader Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur would be booked in cases of massive corruption. He went on to assert that Talpur will also be charged with murders.

Pagara, who also heads Pakistan Muslim League-Functional and is the spiritual head of Hurr Jammat, said he felt saddened to see PML-N's leader Maryam Nawaz imprisoned. "She has been punished for corruption and sins of her father."

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He said GDA's networking in Sindh was kept secret until the elections were announced because the alliance wanted to protect its supporters from harm which it expected from the PPP. "But as soon as the PPP left the provincial government, we brought GDA in the limelight." He claimed that up to 10 FIRs have been registered against his supporters and 20 of his men have been killed during the PPP's government.

"The PPP couldn't have formed the provincial government in 2013. It was given 15 to 17 seats as a gift." He alleged that the PPP-controlled government officials in Sindh rigged the elections under strong management of Talpur.

The GDA's chief asserted that Zardari knows who killed Benazir Bhutto and her brother Murtaza Bhutto, adding that the former president himself had stated this publicly. "Then why doesn't he tell the names (of the killers)?" he questioned.

Pagara told the crowd that Zardari donated funds to the Democrats of USA whose presidential candidate was the former foreign secretary Hilary Clinton during the last election. "After Clinton's defeat, Zardari has spent billions to develop relations with the Trump administration," he alleged.

He reiterated that the PPP's leader has offered to assist USA in bringing an end to Pakistan's nuclear programme if his party is supported in forming the federal government. "Zardari is an enemy of Pakistan."

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Pagara blamed Zardari for taking revenge from Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's PPP because Bhutto had humiliated and expelled his father, late Hakim Ali Zardari, from PPP. The PPP has been reduced to Zardari league, he added.

He said that after destroying Sindh's agriculture for 10 consecutive years, the PPP is giving a lollipop of Hari (peasant) cards to the farmers.

Former federal minister Ghaus Bux Mahar, Ali Gohar Khan Mahar, PML-F's leader Syed Sadruddin Shah Rashdi and other leaders of the alliance addressed the public meeting as well.

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