For a moment, it seemed that Zulfiqar Mirza was a minister in a government ruled by a dictator, where the constitution was suspended, as it had been under Musharraf junta. His style was reminiscent of the style of Musharraf and former Home Minister of Sindh when they proudly proclaimed their show of power on 12 May 2007. This style does not bode well for a party that came into power through the power of the ballot and not through brute force. It would have been appreciated if such a man had resisted the illegal military junta with his self-proclaimed street power.
The PPP of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto or Benazir Bhutto would not have enforced zoning laws on small sugarcane growers in Sindh, forcing them to sell their crops at below market rates to the powerful sugar mill cartels that rule this province. Thousands of containers leaving KPT, containing weapons and other contraband stuff would not have disappeared had the security apparatus performed.
Thousands of citizens of Pakistan, including many from interior Sindh have been killed in Karachis street fighting. Benazir Bhutto was saved in Karachi on the day she arrived not because of the feudals of her party, or those who lay claim to being cowboys when in power, but by the hundreds of her workers surrounding the truck she was on with their blood. These workers came from Punjab, KP, Balochistan and Sindh because this party never indulged in the politics of ethnicity.
In a democratic environment, it is the right of any political party including the PML(N) or TI to open and maintain their offices in any part of the country including Sindh. The PPP has been in power for almost three years and had the opportunity to win more people by delivering to them and catering to their welfare. It still has some time and it would serve it better if it stops repeating the mistakes it has been doing during the last three years. Instead of protecting the corrupt it should be seen protecting the millions of weak or poor through good governance. They will be judged by the relief work provided to the suffering millions who were devastated by recent floods and not by their rhetoric.
ANEELA CHANDIO
Sukkur