Ghani says he doesn’t favour banning any political party

Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani has said that as an activist of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), he does not believe in banning any political party.

He issued this statement on Friday while speaking at a press conference at the Railway Ground near Kala Pul. He was responding to a query regarding a proposal to ban the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) due to its violent agitation drive.

He, however, opined that the PTI was synonymous with the word ‘anarchy’. He said the founder of the PTI utterly lacked the aptitude of a politician. Everyone had the right to stage a peaceful protest, Ghani said, adding that anarchy, terrorism or lawlessness should not be allowed under the guise of agitation.

He said the PTI had marched on Islamabad to spread lawlessness and terror in the federal capital. The right to protest should be exercised within the ambit of the law so that the rights of others were not trampled upon, he added.

Responding to a question, Ghani, who is also the Karachi president of the PPP, said the Constitution contained the provision for imposing the governor’s rule in a province. He also conceded that the law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was not satisfactory.

However, he emphasised that the governor’s rule should only be imposed in extreme circumstances. He said official resources and machinery available at the disposal of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government had been used to invade Islamabad during the recent protest call of the PTI.

To another query, the local government minister said PTI founder Imran Khan had become a relic of the past and he did not see any role of the PTI in the future politics of the country. He said Khan continued to get undue relief from the courts despite the bad conduct of the PTI.

To a question regarding the PPP’s relations with the federal government, Ghani said the PPP had serious reservations about certain issues concerning the federal government and the Sindh government of the PPP had been raising them at every forum.

He said the Sindh Assembly had passed a resolution against the proposal to build six new canals on the Indus River and the PPP would oppose such an anti-Sindh move. The local government minister said the Sindh government had been using every constitutional and legal option to safeguard the interests of the province and its people.

He told media persons that public meetings would be held in 150 districts across Pakistan to mark the 57th Foundation Day of the PPP on Saturday (today). The public meeting in Karachi would be held at the Railway Ground near Kala Pul.

He said the PPP chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, would simultaneously address these public meetings via video link. The central and provincial leadership of the PPP would also address these gatherings.

The local government minister said this would be the first time that any political party would conduct its public meeting at the Railway Ground in Karachi.

He informed journalists that the PPP in the last 57 years had faced unprecedented hardships never endured by any other political party. He said the followers of the PPP had also endured massive atrocities.

Ghani said the PPP had waged a struggle against the military dictators in the past as per its ideology. He added that no other political party or its leadership could match the political wisdom possessed by the PPP.

He said the pro-people politics was being practised in the country owing to the struggle of the PPP, which had acted as a nursery in the Pakistani politics. Ghani also claimed that the development work and achievements during the PPP’s regime had been unprecedented in the history of Pakistani politics. He said the PPP had now emerged as a strong political entity with deep-rooted relations with the masses.