LARKANA: Dr Farooq Sattar’s removal as convener of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) by its coordination committee is expression of no-confidence in his leadership, a spokesman for Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Sindh president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said.

The spokesman said that Dr Sattar proved his failure in keeping the party intact.

The spokesman issued the statement a little after Dr Sattar was relinquished as party chief and a couple of hours after Mr Khuhro, who is also the senior minister for food and parliamentary affairs, spoke to local reporters at the concluding session of ‘Shahar-i-Benazir Festival’ in the Municipal Stadium here on Sunday. He had commented that MQM-P’s convener and the coordination committee were taking contradictory decisions which reflected a serious rift within the party.Expressing his confidence that the PPP would sweep the next general elections, Mr Khuhro criticised both Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Nawaz Sharif.

He said Khan was taking no care of people’s issues as he remained busy with contracting and hiding his marriages. Observing that the PTI chief was playing tricks, he said his tricks would fail to keep his party intact even in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Repeating his party’s stance on the character of Mr Sharif, the senior PPP leader said “he is thief”. He recalled that it was Mr Sharif who had provided space to [former president] General Pervez Musharraf by way of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). PTI leader Imran Khan had also supported his [Musharraf’s] referendum which was his mistake, Khuhro said, adding that he [Mr Khan] again committed a mistake when he recently cursed the parliament.

Mr Khuhro urged people to reject both these parties and their leaders and not to heed their propaganda against PPP. He said PPP would continue its onward journey despite criticism from all its opponents. Earlier, speaking at the concluding session of the festival, Mr Khuhro said events like the Shaher-i-Benazir Festival should be held in all districts of Sindh to promote healthy activities in society.

The venue of the festival was the same where Benazir Bhutto had addressed her last public meeting, he noted.

Larkana Mayor Aslam Shaikh, commissioner, deputy commissioner and local PPP leaders were among those who attended the concluding ceremony.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2018