Complaint of level playing field is from PML-N: Bilawal

MQM-P approaches ECP yet again against ‘biased delimitations’

Complaint of level playing field is from PML-N: Bilawal, Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari took a jab at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday and said he hopes former premier Nawaz Sharif will face the courts on his return.

The complaint of a level playing field was directed at the PML-N, said Bilawal addressing a press conference in Lahore.

“Our demand for a level playing field is from the PML-N. Ideally, the parties allied under the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) would have made the demand for elections and moved forward together. The PML-N arranged so that there isn’t a level playing field, so the complaint is also from them. If the complaint was from someone else, I would have named them,” said Bilawal.

He further said that “the right to announce elections is neither with me nor with the establishment but it is with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The election date should be immediately announced”.

He claimed that funds were not being released for development schemes in Sindh but the same was being carried out in other provinces.

Bilawal, who served as the foreign minister during the coalition government’s tenure, said that it was time for the international community to accept that India had become a “rogue Hindutva terrorist state”.

MQM-P approaches ECP

Meanwhile, earlier in the day Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Farooq Sattar decried the lack of a “level-playing field” in Sindh as his party put forth its reservations against constituencies, transfers, postings and appointments in front of the Election Commission Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday.

Sattar led a five-member delegation to meet the chief election commissioner. The MQM-P leader, while informing the commission of the party’s stance on elections, raised matters related to constituencies in the provincial capital.

“We have serious reservations about the constituencies of 2018. They were tailor-made to support a certain party only,” he said. To which, the ECP assured that they would address all concerns.

Talking to the media, Sattar reiterated that the constituencies were drawn to benefit a particular party.

“We [MQM-P] were harmed in Sukkur and Mirpur Khas,” Sattar claimed. “We’ve asked the election commission to take action against the excesses that happened in 2018″.

Sattar added that the party spokesmen have also informed the commission about their reservations against frequent transfers and appointments.

The MQM leader stated that the ECP needs to establish a level playing field in Sindh prior to the general elections. “Caretaker CM Sindh has given us assurance that our matters will be resolved. The results will be known later.”

Earlier this week, in what appeared to be an effort to strengthen their position in the upcoming general elections, MQM and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) agreed to work together to achieve their common goal of countering the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Sindh.

At a joint media talk in Karachi, Sattar and JUI-F Sindh Secretary General Rashid Mehmood Soomro expressed reservations on the transfers and postings of officials in the province by the caretaker Sindh government.

Dr Sattar said that the time had come to rid Sindh of the “political feudals”, who were controlling the province’s administrative affairs for the past 15 years. “We have decided that we will not allow the use of Sindh card anymore. Enough is enough,” Sattar added.