Switching camps: Former PPP and PML-F workers join PTI

Shabbir Jokhio and Rasheed Abbas have said that they are joining the party.

KARACHI: Former Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) leader, Shabbir Jokhio, along with supporters from Memon Goth in Gadap Town, has crossed over to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

At least a hundred of Jokhio’s supporters gathered at the PTI Sindh Secretariat on Thursday evening to hear their leader formally announce the fact that he was joining the party. The move came after several meetings with the PTI’s leadership in Sindh. Several leaders from the PTI spoke at the event, including Aslam Rajput, Subhan Ali Sahil, Zubair Khan and the party’s Sindh president, Naeemul Haque.

Former Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) member Rasheed Abbas from Bhains Colony, which falls in the PS-129 constituency, also announced that he is joining PTI along with his supporters. The PS-129 constituency is currently held by the PPP’s Haji Muzaffar Ali Shujra. It is one of the constituencies that the PTI expects to win in the next election. Getting Abbasi and Jokhio on board gives PTI an on-the-ground presence in Karachi that it has been lacking.

PTI leader Aslam Rajput addressed Jokhio’s supporters in Sindhi and criticised Sindh’s politicians and leaders for neglecting the province. Rajput also criticised the prime minister for allegedly remodelling the kitchen at the PM House for Rs26 million, though according to a report aired by a private television channel, it is the presidency at which the work is being carried out. “This money is Sindh’s money!” said Rajput. “We curse such a prime minister.” Haque said that money was being spent on housing for parliamentarians or the military’s expenses instead of the welfare of the people. He also criticised the federal and provincial governments for not helping flood victims and claimed that Imran Khan had visited the flood hit areas and contributed Rs20 million from an ‘Imran Khan Fund’.

Haque said that they had been very impressed with Jokhio’s work in organising support for the PML-F in Memon Goth. He added that PTI would ensure jobs for unemployed people in the country.

Jokhio said he was glad to join PTI and thanked the party’s central and provincial leadership. His supporters, which included a number of teenagers, said that they would attend the December 25 rally in Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2011.