ISLAMABAD: Opposition parties in Sindh agreed to form a grand alliance for eradicating the culture of corruption and nepotism in the province and announced to wage a protest movement from January 9 in support of the paramilitary force.
The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of leaders of opposition parties convened by Murtaza Jatoi here. They decided to constitute a committee for the purpose.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, the opposition leaders said the need for a grand alliance had arisen as the ruling party in the province had allegedly failed to address the problems being faced by the people.
They also took strong exception to the position of Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani who, they alleged, had thwarted all efforts of the opposition members to register their concerns and opinion on the floor of the House.
“The partiality and bias has compelled us to use forums other than assembly to raise voice over the excesses committed against the people,” former Sindh chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim said.
Ex-home minister Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza alleged that corruption was rampant in the province, pushing its inhabitants below the line of poverty.
“Excesses are being committed against the masses in the name of their representation, but in fact it is their misrepresentation,” he said.
Federal Minister for Industries and Production Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi regretted that the Pakistan People’s Party, a party formed by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with his father (Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi) as its founding member, was now no more a party of the people. “It has now become a mafia,” he alleged.
Murtaza Jatoi alleged that the current PPP leaders were compromising democratic values for the protection of a person involved in corruption.
Arbab Ghulam Rahim said all those committed to protect the interests of Sindh and its people had come together.
Earlier the meeting was held under the chairmanship of Sindh President of the PML-F, Pir Sadaruddin Shah Rashdi and attended by senior members of different political parties of the province. NNI
