LARKANA: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl Larkana chapter’s emir Maulana Nasir Mehmood Soomro, who was contesting for NA-196 (Qambar-Shahdadkot-I) against Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, complained on Thursday that his party’s flags and posters were being removed from different areas of the city on the directives of city mayor.

He said in a press statement issued here on Thursday that the mayor was doing this on the directives of PPP leadership. Instead of using municipal staff and its vehicles to serve people, they were abusing the municipal resources for removing party flags and banners of their rivals, he said.

He said that it was nothing but political victimisation. The ‘terrified’ PPP leadership had begun political victimisation and insulting JUI-F’s leadership, which would never be tolerated, he said.

He warned that the PPP should only do what it could bear in return. They (PPP) were spoiling political atmosphere and using the name of Election Commission of Pakistan to remove banners and flags of JUI-F, he said.

The JUI-F workers would stage protests if PPP’s flags and banners were affixed after removing theirs, he said. The PPP should have courage to fight politically instead of choosing intolerable methods, he said. They must think before taking such a step as JUI-F knew well how to counteract, he warned.

Mayor Anwar Luhar rejected the claim of JUI-F leader, saying that he had nothing to do with the removal of their flags. Municipal Commissioner Raza Hussain Khoso, who was also district monitoring officer of ECP, was leading this campaign, he clarified.

As per the task assigned to him by the ECP he was removing different political parties’ flags and posters affixed or hoisted on public properties or electricity poles, he said.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2024