Daily Times

KARACHI: The Pir Pagara Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi-led Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) on Monday wrote a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decrying ‘biased’ caretaker setup in Sindh.

Expressing lack of trust on Sindh’s caretaker setup, the letter said that the interim setup was just a continuation of the former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government.”

The letter alleged that appointments were made through nepotism across the province, adding that the assistant returning officers were hired from the provincial Education Department. Most officials from the Education Department have appeared before NAB and other investigation agencies, according to GDA.

The heads of local bodies are running the electoral campaign of PPP, the letter stated. “It is the constitutional responsibility of the ECP to ensure transparent and fair elections.”

Later, while addressing a press conference at Kingri House, Pir Pagara remarked that the current caretaker setup is biased. Even Sindh’s Election Commission it not unbiased, he alleged.

“We had hoped that the caretaker setup would conduct transparent elections,” he said.

Former National Assembly speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, who along with her husband Zulfikar Mirza announced to join GDA on June 3, remarked that there is a difference between the caretaker setups of Punjab and Sindh.

She alleged that caretaker CM Sindh Fazalur Rehman and the provincial police chief were powerless and weak, adding that Sindh CM was not “unbiased”.

Published in Daily Times, June 26^th 2018.