LARKANA: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro on Wednesday criticised PPP’s political rivals for adapting a softer stance against terrorism. While addressing various corner meetings in Larkana as part of election campaign, he denounced Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif for not speaking openly against terrorism while highlighting sacrifices PPP had made for strengthening democracy. “Hundreds of our activists had lost their precious lives including the party’s leader Benazir Bhutto,” he said and vowed that PPP would continue to strive against extremism and terrorism. He further emphasised on the need to distinguish truth from deception and falsehood and claimed that their political opponents were using ‘unfair’ tactics to oppress the party leadership ahead of general elections. “However, PPP will never abandon the field without competing,” he said while terming it ‘a decisive battle between the forces of truth and falsehood’. ‘Confident’ Khuhro about party’s dominant position in Sindh urged the general public to cast their votes in favour of PPP, and said that if electoral code of conduct is implemented in its true spirit and essence, then election campaigns would definitely be affected. “Every party deserves an equal opportunity to carry out political campaign freely, fairly and independently,” he said while denouncing the comparison between development of Lahore and Larkana. “The development projects of Lahore have been exposed after the recent spell of monsoon rains,” he maintained. Responding to imprisonment of party’s leaders, he called it ‘not a new situation to deal with’. “Benazir Bhutto was offered ice in prison, but she returned it back,” he said adding that PPP’s activists had suffered from hardships during their detention in the past. “Nawaz Sharif was afraid of mosquito bites during his imprisonment, and consequently made an agreement with the dictator, and fled from Pakistan,” he said. Moreover, he alleged that anti-PPP forces would not be able to resolve critical issues faced by the general public of Pakistan. “We have held ‘Alam’ of martyrs for supporting Bilawal Bhutto Zardari,” he said while extending heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families of Haroon Bilour and other political activists who lost their lives in Peshawar bomb blast. Khuhro termed the bomb blast as ‘a conspiracy against democrats’. Meanwhile, Jamil Soomro, political secretary to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, claimed that PPP’s rivals neither have any effective plan nor manifesto to address the people’s issues. Nida Khuhro, daughter of Nisar Khuhro, and a candidate for provincial assembly seat PS-11, asserted that if she gets elected, she would become a voice for the poverty-stricken people in Sindh assembly. Published in Daily Times, July 12th 2018.