GDA announces boycott of PPP’s multi-party conference

Announcing its boycott of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) multi-party conference (MPC), leaders of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) on Wednesday said the ruling party in Sindh had not formally invited their party to attend the event scheduled on June 11 at the Chief Minister House.

The GDA leaders, who included Sardar Abdul Rahim, GDA parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly Hasnain Mirza, and MPAs Nusrat Sehar Abbasi, Arif Mustafa Jatoi, Nand Kumar Goklani and Sheharyar Mehar, made the announcement while addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club.

They said the PPP had been playing a key role in the opposition in the Centre. “But in Sindh province where the PPP has been ruling for the past 12 years, it has not tolerated the opposition parties and ignored them in the meetings and conferences,” said Rahim.

Rahim, who is also the provincial secretary general of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), one of the political parties constituting the GDA, said the PPP had given an invitation for the MPC in the name of the PML-F. “When we asked them to give an invitation in the name of the GDA, they did not respond,” he said.

Instead of discussing the issues in a meeting behind closed doors, the PPP should bring the issues to the floor of the provincial assembly, said Mirza. “The multi-party conference is a drama and a conspiracy to divert attention from genuine problems such as bad governance and failure to contain the coronavirus pandemic,” he added.

On the issue of 18th amendment, Mirza said the GDA also did not want to abolish the 18th amendment but it supported necessary changes in it. “After the passage of the 18th amendment, Sindh did not see its impact.”

Nusrat said the Sindh government had been fooling the other provinces on the issue of the National Finance Commission (NFC) award. A few days ago, the PPP had announced its decision to hold an MPC to discuss the issues of the locust emergency, COVID-19 crisis, 18th constitutional amendment and NFC.

PPP’s response

Responding to the GDA leaders’ press conference, PPP Sindh President Nisar Khuhro said the GDA was not a political party but an alliance of a few political parties and individuals.

“The component parties did not merge themselves in the GDA and therefore the PPP invited them in their separate identities to attend its multi-party conference,” said Khuhro. He added that it seemed that the GDA only cared about its federal ministries and had no interest in the issues of Sindh.