Elections 2018: anti-PPP rural Sindh alliance on the cards

Pakistan Peoples Party's political opponents in rural Sindh have decided to formally register an alliance with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to contest 2018 general elections from a united platform. Qaumi Awami Tehreek President Ayaz Latif Palijo told Business Recorder that the Grand Democratic Alliance will be registered with the ECP under the leadership of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional Chief Pir Pagara.
He said that all the GDA leaders will participate in a meeting to be held in Sukkur on November 26 during which a future course of action will be decided. The leaders who have already expressed their willingness to be part of the alliance include: Ghaus Ali Shah, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Irfanullah Marwat, Zulfiqar Mirza, Mumtaz Bhutto, Ghaus Buksh Mahar, Safdar Abbasi and Haji Shafi Jamot.
He said that they have been contacting other nationalist and smaller parties in Sindh and once this process is completed, the alliance will be registered with the ECP. He claimed that almost all heavyweights in Sindh are willing to become part of the alliance and a big announcement in this regard will be made after the formal meeting of all the leaders on November 26 in Sukkur.
Sardar Abdul Raheem has been appointed information secretary of the alliance, and would also serve as its general secretary, he said, adding that the alliance would highlight corruption of the PPP leaders during the election campaign.
He also clarified that the alliance's political activities will be limited to Sindh and it will prove a formidable force against the PPP.
To a question, he said that General Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League and Pakistan Muslim League of Chaudhry brothers are not part of the alliance as it is only meant to be an alliance against the PPP in rural Sindh.
Talking to Business Recorder, PPP senator Taj Haider said that it is not the first time that a political alliance has been made against the PPP in rural Sindh. "In every election a political alliance under a different name emerges in Sindh, but each time they have to face a humiliating defeat," he said.
Haider said that almost all members of the alliance are political orphans and they have been trying to get some relevance in the next general elections.
About the PML-F, he said the party has a track record of dancing to the tune of the establishment in every election, and it is no surprise for the PPP leadership that Pir Pagara is going to head the so-called alliance this time as well.