GDA pens protest letter to ECP over Sindh’s ‘biased’ caretaker setup
June 25, 2018
KARACHI: The Pir Pagara Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi-led Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) penned on Monday a protest letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decrying ‘biased’ caretaker setup in Sindh.
In the letter, the GDA has expressed lack of trust on Sindh’s caretaker setup, stating that: “the caretaker setup is just a continuation of the Pakistan Peoples Party government.”
The letter alleged that appointments were made through nepotism across the province, adding that the assistant returning officers were hired from the provincial education department. Most officials from the education department have appeared before NAB and other investigation agencies, according to GDA.
The heads of local bodies are running the electoral campaign of PPP, the letter stated. “It is the constitutional responsibility of the ECP to ensure transparent and fair elections.”
Later, while addressing a press conference at Kingri House, Pir Pagara remarked that the current caretaker setup is biased. Even Sindh's election commission it not unbiased, he alleged.
"We had hoped that the caretaker setup would conduct transparent elections," he said.
Former National Assembly speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, who along with her husband Zulfikar Mirza announced to join GDA on June 3, remarked that there is a difference between the caretaker setups of Punjab and Sindh.
She alleged that the caretaker CM Sindh Fazalur Rehman and the provincial Inspector General of Police are quite powerless and weak, adding that Sindh CM is not “unbiased”.
