Sindhi bigwigs eye anti-PPP alliance after Muharram

• Five former Sindh CMs huddle at PML-F chief’s residence, decide to counter PPP’s Sindh govt
• Politician says alliance would serve as friendly opposition to PPP which will counter PTI
• Mumtaz Bhutto’s spokesman confirms meeting, says won’t join PTI but Khan’s Larkana rally will be huge

With efforts underway for the formation of a United Muslim League, the political heavyweights of Sindh are set to form an alliance to confront the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) government under the leadership of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) chief Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashidi soon after the holy month of Muharram.

Five former chief ministers of Sindh – Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, Ghous Ali Shah, Elahi Bux Soomro and Liaquat Jatoi – sat together at the PML-F chief Rashidi’s residence and discussed a future strategy.

“The meeting decided to form an alliance against the Sindh government’s malpractices including corruption and nepotism, worsening of law and order and injustice meted out to the poor. It has been decided that an anti-government movement would be launched soon after Muharram,” a source privy to the meeting details told Pakistan Today.

However, another politician from interior Sindh claimed that the alliance was being formed under a covert understanding between Pir Pagara and PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to raise a “friendly opposition alliance” to obstruct the rising popularity wave of Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and retain their feudal hold in interior Sindh.

“Almost all the Sindhi feudal lords are worried over the increasing awareness among the general public due to the provocative speeches made by Imran Khan. So in a bid to bar this awakening from entering interior Sindh, the Sindhi bigwigs are neither joining PTI nor are ready to welcome Khan in their respective towns,” the political leader added.

Mumtaz Ali Bhutto’s spokesman Ibrahim Abro confirmed the meeting’s occurrence and the consequent decision to form an anti-PPP government alliance.

Asked if Mumtaz Bhutto was going to join the PTI, Abro said that no such decision had been taken despite the fact that PTI’s Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi had visited Bhutto on September 13.

“Despite a cold shoulder from the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government, we are still a part of the PML-N. However, we understand that Sharif has thrown out Sindh National Front from his party but Bhutto wants the PM to announce this decision,” he added.

Moreover, he said that Bhutto had also handed over the agreement for merger between Sindh National Front and the PML-N to Qureshi.

Asked if Khan would be able to hold a good rally in Larkana on November 21 without Bhutto, Abro said that the people of interior Sindh were fed up with the corrupt regime of PPP and given the public sentiment, the Larkana rally would be even bigger than PTI’s Multan rally.