JUI Sindh secretary-general Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro said they were being cautious because some parties of the 10-party alliance had cheated them during the May 11 general elections. PHOTO: FILE
JUI Sindh secretary-general Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro said they were being cautious because some parties of the 10-party alliance had cheated them during the May 11 general elections. He was addressing a press conference at Madrassa Hamadia Manzil Gah in Sukkur on Thursday afternoon. He added, however, that they had allowed their office bearers in different districts to decide on their own about the local bodies’ elections.
Terming the May 11 elections “engineered”, he said that record levels of rigging was observed throughout the country, particularly in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces, where rigging was specifically done to keep the JUI out of the process.
Talking about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s chief Imran Khan, the JUI leader said, during May 11, Khan had won a seat in KPK with a huge majority, but the PTI lost the same seat during by-polls, which clearly indicated that the seat won earlier was won through rigging.
He demanded the government must arrest former chief election commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim and try him.
Soomro demanded that the government should also arrest the people who had been freed via the National Reconciliation Ordinance. Even murderers were released due to the “black ordinance”, which is highly condemnable, he said. Referring to the rumours about the escape of terrorists to other parts of Sindh due to the operation in Karachi, he said, some elements wanted to carry out similar operations in the rest of Sindh.
He said a political party was demanding army operation in Karachi, while earlier it was against it. The same party is demanding the creation of new provinces, he said, adding that they will not allow the division of Sindh at any cost.
Criticising Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s government, he said, the government is raising the prices of petroleum products regularly, leading to skyrocketing inflation. The PML-N had promised an end to load-shedding, but it has failed to do so, as 10 to 12 hours of power cuts were being carried out in many parts of Sindh. He demanded that the federal government at least slash down the prices of petroleum products to the ones before May 11.
The provision of better education and health were the promises made by the PML-N, therefore, the government should take revolutionary measures to ensure the same. He also demanded the government accept the right of provinces over their natural resources.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2013.
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