PTI steps up efforts for Feb 26 long march against Sindh govt

KARACHI: As part of its strategy to counter the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) planned long march from Karachi to Islamabad against the federal government on February 27, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has intensified the preparation of its own long march from Ghotki to Karachi against the Sindh government on February 26.

PTI Sindh president and Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi on Saturday headed a meeting of the party’s provincial advisory committee to discuss the preparation of the long march.

Federal minister Muhammad Mian Soomro, former chief minister Ghous Ali Shah, Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh, parliamentary leader Khurram Sher Zaman, senior leader Amir Baksh Bhutto, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Mubin Jatoi, Ali Palh, Allah Bakhsh Unnar, MPAs Arsalan Taj, Dr Sanjay Gangawani, Saeed Afridi, MNA Saifur Rehman, and others attended the meeting.

The long march will reach from Ghotki to Karachi in nine days, which will be led by federal ministers Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, and Ali Zaidi.

Talking to the media persons, Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi said that the march will start from Ghotki on February 26 and reach Karachi on March 6.

“The long march will pass through Shikarpur, Kashmore and Jacobabad on February 27, Larkana on February 28, Khairpur and Nawabshah on February 29, Badin on March 3, Tando Muhammad Khan on March 4 and Hyderabad on March 5,” announced the minister.

Calling the PPP-led Sindh government a ‘bandit rule’, he said that the people of the province are frustrated by the bad governance, corruption and incompetence of the ruling party and therefore, they will attend the PTI’s long march in a large number on February 26.

He said that the PTI’s long march would lead to the fall of the “Zardari mafia” and put PTI in charge of the provincial government in 2023. “The main objective of the long march is to save Sindh’s people from the mafia that has been occupying the resources of the province for the past 14 years,” he said.

The maritime affairs minister met the party’s leaders from Hyderabad, Sukkur, Nawabshah, and Shikarpur on Friday to discuss the plans of February 26, ‘Sindh rights long march’. PTI Sindh secretary general Mubin Jatoi was also present in the meeting.

Zaidi instructed the party’s leaders to reach out to every single person in the province and unite the people against the unjust rule of corruption and bad governance of the Sindh government.