A public meeting was organised in Dakhan near Shikarpur in the evening, where the Pakistan Muslim League-N chief said the plight of people of Sindh had remained unchanged since the creation of Pakistan. Addressing President Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz advised him to visit the small towns of Sindh to see for himself the condition in which people were living.
He said the government has done nothing for the welfare of Sindhis in the four year tenure. “Zardari saheb, have pity on the country and Sindh in particular and do something to provide relief to the people,” Nawaz urged. According to him, he has learnt that the people of Shikarpur get electricity for four hours out of 24.
He clarified, however, that this was his maiden visit to Shikarpur. “I am not here to ask for votes.”
Apart from the politics of the 1980s and 1990s, we want to do the politics of serving people, he stressed. “We must do something to mitigate the miseries of the poor and peasants,” he said pointing towards the youth in the gathering.
“They are our future, and most of them have degrees, but don’t have jobs. Zardari saheb, what you have done during the last four years?” Not a single problem has been fixed, he claimed, adding that the road from Sukkur airport to Shikarpur was dilapidated.
Referring to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, he said that he was sorry to say that even though four years have passed, the government has not arrested her murderers. A huge amount of tax payers’ money was spent on investigations, but to no avail, he said. Once again addressing President Zardari, he asked him to do away with corruption and give something to the nation.
“I sided with President Zardari for the sake of Pakistan and its people,” he went on to say, “because I wanted to do something for the welfare of the poor. We wanted to provide them with respectable employment, health and education, but the government did nothing.”
Earlier, while talking to the media at Sukkur airport, Nawaz Sharif said that the restoration of the Nato supply should be done according to the recommendations of parliament.
The government should avoid tackling the matter on its own, he warned. He said that the people had voted the PPP to power, but it had given them nothing but disappointment. Talking about the prime minister’s conviction, he said that he should have stepped down soon after the verdict.
On this visit, landlord Muzaffar Ali Essani along with his companions announced they were joining the PML-N. Syed Ghous Ali Shah, Senator Perwez Rasheed and Marvi Memon accompanied Nawaz.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2012.
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