Khuhro made Sindh chief as PPP sets about ensuring 2018 vote win

Bilawal takes decision after speaking to three candidates, other party leaders

Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, a senior Pakistan Peoples Party leader and provincial minister for parliamentary affairs and food, has been made the new president of the Sindh chapter of the party, which has been ruling the province for over eight years.

His appointment marks a major shift in the organisational structure of the PPP in the province as, after a long gap, the offices of the party‘s provincial president and chief executive have been separated.

Earlier, between 2008 and the early months part of the current year, Syed Qaim Ali Shah had been the PPP president in Sindh, besides holding the office of the chief minister.

The young chairman of the party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has made the decision of appointing Khuhro as PPP president in Sindh after consulting with senior leaders and activists of the party.

The decision was made public at a press conference addressed by members of the provincial coordination committee of the PPP at the party’s media cell in Clifton on Thursday. 

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, information adviser Moula Bux Chandio and Rashid Rabbani addressed the press conference.

A day earlier, the PPP chairman had announced that Khuhro, Chandio, and Qaim Ali Shah were the candidates for the slot of the PPP Sindh president.

Speaking on the occasion, Khuhro thanked Bilawal, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Faryal Talpur, Bakhtawar Bhutto, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari and the rest of the party for reposing trust in him by elevating him to the position of the provincial chief of the party.

He said he would try his best to come up to the expectations and confidence reposed in him. “We would try that the Peoples Party will secure complete victory in the 2018 general elections in the entire country, including the Sindh province, with the support of the masses.”

Khuhro said the portfolio of the provincial cabinet he had been holding was the trust of the party and he would relinquish the ministerial post whenever he was asked to do so by the party leadership. 

He said everyone concerned had put in an effort to make October 16 “Salam Shuhuda” rally in Karachi a resounding success. 

He was confident the PPP would emerge as the sole winner in the upcoming polls in all districts of Sindh, including Karachi, as the party would do its work and render public service with the required ambition.

He stated that appointments to the rest of offices of the party in the province would be made soon and he would do his best to devolve powers and implement the manifesto of the party at grassroots level.

Khuhro said Ghotki had been had selected as the venue where the PPP would organise a massive function on October 30 to celebrate the Diwali festival of the Hindu community. 

He said that in India, the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been acting as a virtual butcher of Muslims although they were his own countrymen, and in Pakistan the PPP would show to the world that “we are liberal and despite the presence of a wall between the mosque and the temple, we used to living together”.

He said that on 23 October the PPP would commemorate the death anniversary of “Madar-e-Jamhooriat” Begum Nusrat Bhutto and organise events in every district and Quran Khuwani would be held at the Peoples Secretariat in Karachi.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah congratulated Khuhro, saying that he had played an important role in the promotion of causes of democracy and the welfare of the masses. He said that although not much time was left before the next general elections in the country, the new PPP chief in Sindh would do his best and utilise that time in the best of manner so that the party could emerge victorious in the polls.

Information adviser Moula Bakhsh Chandio said Bilawal had appointed Khuhro as new provincial chief of the party after consultations and deliberations. He said that unlike other political parties, the re-organisation of the PPP was being done not on an artificial basis but in the true spirit.

Khuhro was leader of opposition in the Sindh Assembly in 1997 and became for a full-term from 2002 till 2007speaker of the Sindh Assembly, and from 2008 till 2013, he served as senior minister for education, literacy and information. Afterwards, he became parliamentary affairs and food minister. 

Before being elevated as new chief of the party in the province, Khuhro had been heading the provincial coordination committee of the party since April this year when Bilawal dissolved all organisational bodies of the PPP from provincial till grass-roots level to choose the new leadership at different tiers.

Earlier in the day, Bilawal directed all party workers and jiyallas to prepare for the general elections 2018, saying that the leadership was going to announce a vibrant and energetic new body of the PPP’s Sindh chapter as well as all other provinces and Azad Kashmir chapters. He was talking with three finalised candidates for the slot of president for Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Nisar Khuhro and Mola Bux Chandio at the Bilawal House. MNA Faryal Talpur also attended the meeting. He conducted individual interviews with each candidate. The three candidates shared their ideas and suggestions with him for meeting the desires of the party workers and any new challenges.

Bilawal appreciated the hard work and contributions of all candidates and said the party leadership always respected the opinions of all workers and jiyallas and the new organisations would be a reflection of that.