PPP accuses district admin of obstructing party membership drive

LAHORE:Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Lahore leadership has alleged that bureaucracy is trying to break the alliance of the PPP and the PMLN by creating political instability.

Speaking at a press conference at PPP Johar Town office here on Thursday, party leaders Faisal Mir and Majeed Ghauri along with Sibt-e-Hassan and Shahid Abbas Advocate alleged that traffic police is forcibly removing flexes on the PPP transport.

‘From the DC office, Majeed Ghauri was called and threatened him to stop the PPP membership drive, while the LDA has sent a notice of Rs874,000 to the PPP Lahore office for conducting political activities, the said.

Rum Farooq, Aziz Abbasi, Shahbaz Durrani and Allah Ditta Wattoo were also present at the press conference. PPP leaders said that the PPP is currently an alliance party of the PMLN and ‘we are taking this alliance with us on the instructions of our leadership’. They said ‘we want to tell PM Shehbaz Sharif that the officers are conspiring against the Punjab government. Investigation should be conducted regarding Deputy Commissioner and CTO Lahore. The Lahore administration is obstructing the political activities of the PPP’. They stressed that there are PMLN offices in various places in Lahore. ‘The malice of the CTO and LDA is evident from the fact that they have not imposed any fine or notice on 80H Model Town. All this is being done by the administration using the name of PMLN. We do not place advertisements on any government office but on our own property. If this campaign is not stopped within 24 hours, we will surround the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and CTO offices’, they said.

They demanded that the social media accounts of the CTO's family be checked. PPP leaders demanded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif immediately suspend the Lahore administration and conduct an investigation.

Shahid Abbas Advocate, President of the People's Lawyers Forum Lahore Division, said that the morale of PPP workers cannot be lowered by such actions. ‘We have the right to as Pakistanis, continue your political activities. Under Article 16, we can put up the party flag and banners on our office, house and car. Legal action will be taken against government employees involved in political vendetta,’ he said. Sabt-e-Hassan said repeated attempts are being made to block the path of the PPP, the Punjab bureaucracy should wake up. If things do not improve, we will stage a sit-in’, he said.