Musharraf for creating third political force in Sindh

General Pervez Musharraf (retd) is focusing on appealing to voters in interior Sindh, the bastion of Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP), with the help of Muslim League Functional and Pakistan Sarzameen Party (PSP). The former military dictator recently held separate meetings with Pir Pagara and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) president, Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain in Dubai to discuss future course of action ahead of 2018 elections.
According to sources, General Musharraf underscored the need for creating a third political force in Sindh, which could challenge the vote bank of PPP. Pir Pagara has reportedly assured full support of his party for the creation of a third strong political force in Sindh in order to end PPP's monopoly. They said both Shujaat Hussian and Pir Pagara had advised the former President to take Mustafa Kamal of PSP onboard, as he had been successfully making inroads in urban areas of Sindh especially in Karachi and Hyderabad.
"This has become inevitable as we badly need a third strong political force which can save Sindh, especially Karachi; efforts are underway to accommodate some known faces in order to put a formidable challenge to the status quo," sources added. A good number of politicians and some electables from the PPP were in touch with General Musharraf and they would all join the All Pakistan Muslim-League at an appropriate time, sources within APML claimed. "We don't want to disclose their identities at the moment, but obviously they would join General Musharraf either by holding a press conference or public rallies in their respective constituencies," a close aide of General Musharraf told Business Recorder.
To a question, he said General Musharraf was in touch with top leadership of the PSP too and different options for cooperation in the next elections were also being discussed, but nothing has yet been finalised."Enough homework is being done to cooperate in the next elections and this is the reason General Musharraf is optimistic of staging a comeback in the coming days. Some major political personalities are in contact with him and soon there will be a third political force to solve the chronic problems of the country," he further claimed.
General Musharraf has also tasked the party's senior vice president Major General Rashid Qureshi (retd) to form a vibrant team of spokespersons to appear on television talk shows to put forth the party's viewpoint on different issues. "The APML would use all modern communication techniques to reach out to the masses before 2018 general elections," said a press release issued by the party's media cell.
"We need to make the people understand that poverty and bad governance are interlinked which need to be countered in order to steer the country out of the prevailing crisis," the press release said.To a question, he said there was no legal bar on Musharraf to return to the country as his lawyers have been appearing in all 'politically-motivated' cases against him in the courts. A PSP spokesperson said his party was willing to work with all political parties that were ready to address genuine problems faced by the people. He, however, parried questions about recent contacts with General Musharraf and the PSP leadership.