Nawaz Sharif scheduled to arrive in Sindh for two-day trip
The party chief is expected to speak at two rallies in Shikarpur.
KARACHI:
Exactly a week after his last visit, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif is returning to Sindh on Tuesday (today) for a two-day trip to attend rallies in Shikarpur.
The party, which has enjoyed a stronghold in Punjab, has started to reach out to the people of Sindh. They are casting the net for potential candidates for the next general elections, increasing political activities in the province and forming alliances with nationalist parties.
Nawaz Sharif is expected to speak at a rally in Darkhan, Shikarpur, where Muzzafar Ali Essani from Bado village will announce that he is joining PML-N. On Wednesday, Nawaz Sharif will be at a rally in Garhi Yaseen. Agha Imtiaz, a relative of Pakistan Peoples Party leader Agha Siraj, is expected to join PML-N at the rally.
A senior PML-N leader who did not want to be named said that Nawaz Sharif was embarking on a journey to save Sindh. The leader added that saving Sindh from the clutches of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was PML-N’s responsibility.
Every village, every street
The PML-N is also working on a new campaign led by Marvi Memon Raja Anwar and Dr Bahadur Dahri - ‘Goth Goth Gittee Gittee’, which roughly translates to ‘village village street street’. The campaign is aimed at people living in slums and villages, to tell them that only PML-N can save Sindh. According to the senior party leader, the party was currently working with the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party, Awami Tehreek and Sindh United Party (SUP) on a Sindh agenda.
The main highlights of the agenda are to ensure distribution of resources to Sindh, allocation of water as per the 1991 accord, and the guarantee that no project will be allowed to burden the Indus River or be against the interest of the province.
However, SUP Information Secretary Roshan Ali said that they had presented a 15-point draft to Nawaz Sharif and would give further details after another meeting with him. Leaders of the Awami Tehreek and Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party were unavailable for a comment.
Of rants and rallies
“The PPP has not done anything for the people of Punjab and they are not serious about creating new provinces, said PML-N Information Secretary Mushahidullah Khan. “If the government was serious about creating new provinces, they would not have wasted Rs40billion on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s hometown.”
While addressing a press conference at Punjab House on Monday, Khan lashed out against the government and said that the PPP government in Sindh had failed. “Why does the chief minister of Sindh want to take five million people to Punjab? It would be better if he took 5,000 people to Lyari and made sure there was peace in the area.”
While talking about the rallies in the province, Khan said that the party had not taken out any ‘Go Zardari Go’ rallies but had initiated the ‘Go Gilani Go’ movement. He added that the party’s agenda was to remove the prime minister as he was convicted in court and thus unsuitable to be Prime Minister.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2012.
Exactly a week after his last visit, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif is returning to Sindh on Tuesday (today) for a two-day trip to attend rallies in Shikarpur.
The party, which has enjoyed a stronghold in Punjab, has started to reach out to the people of Sindh. They are casting the net for potential candidates for the next general elections, increasing political activities in the province and forming alliances with nationalist parties.
Nawaz Sharif is expected to speak at a rally in Darkhan, Shikarpur, where Muzzafar Ali Essani from Bado village will announce that he is joining PML-N. On Wednesday, Nawaz Sharif will be at a rally in Garhi Yaseen. Agha Imtiaz, a relative of Pakistan Peoples Party leader Agha Siraj, is expected to join PML-N at the rally.
A senior PML-N leader who did not want to be named said that Nawaz Sharif was embarking on a journey to save Sindh. The leader added that saving Sindh from the clutches of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was PML-N’s responsibility.
Every village, every street
The PML-N is also working on a new campaign led by Marvi Memon Raja Anwar and Dr Bahadur Dahri - ‘Goth Goth Gittee Gittee’, which roughly translates to ‘village village street street’. The campaign is aimed at people living in slums and villages, to tell them that only PML-N can save Sindh. According to the senior party leader, the party was currently working with the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party, Awami Tehreek and Sindh United Party (SUP) on a Sindh agenda.
The main highlights of the agenda are to ensure distribution of resources to Sindh, allocation of water as per the 1991 accord, and the guarantee that no project will be allowed to burden the Indus River or be against the interest of the province.
However, SUP Information Secretary Roshan Ali said that they had presented a 15-point draft to Nawaz Sharif and would give further details after another meeting with him. Leaders of the Awami Tehreek and Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party were unavailable for a comment.
Of rants and rallies
“The PPP has not done anything for the people of Punjab and they are not serious about creating new provinces, said PML-N Information Secretary Mushahidullah Khan. “If the government was serious about creating new provinces, they would not have wasted Rs40billion on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s hometown.”
While addressing a press conference at Punjab House on Monday, Khan lashed out against the government and said that the PPP government in Sindh had failed. “Why does the chief minister of Sindh want to take five million people to Punjab? It would be better if he took 5,000 people to Lyari and made sure there was peace in the area.”
While talking about the rallies in the province, Khan said that the party had not taken out any ‘Go Zardari Go’ rallies but had initiated the ‘Go Gilani Go’ movement. He added that the party’s agenda was to remove the prime minister as he was convicted in court and thus unsuitable to be Prime Minister.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2012.