LARKANA: Mumtaz Bhutto on Friday decided to merge his party, the Sindh National Front (SNF), with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The merger accord was signed by PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and SNF Vice Chairman Ameer Bux Bhutto.
Speaking with the media regarding the merger, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his party had been in talks with Mumtaz Bhutto for the past few months. “The youth of Sindh has welcomed Imran Khan with great valour,” Qureshi said, adding that the merger of the SNF with PTI indicated that the party agreed with PTI’s “national mindset.” “PTI is also ready for another breakthrough in Sindh before the month of November is over,” Qureshi said, while adding that his party was in contact with a number of political bigwigs from Sindh.
“The people of Sindh are unhappy with the current government,” Ameer Bux Bhutto said while speaking to the media. “There is a political void in Sindh and a member of the Bhutto family has always filled that void, but that did not happen after Benazir Bhutto’s death because of the shadow of Asif Ali Zardari’s past,” he said while adding that the PTI was only political party at the moment that was capable of bringing change to the country.
In May this year, PTI chief Imran Khan had extended an invitation to SNF chief Mumtaz Bhutto to join his party. The former Sindh governor, a first cousin of PPP founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, had recently ditched the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for failing to take interest in the issues of the people of Sindh. He had merged the party with the PML-N before the 2013 general elections. Addressing the media, Ameer Bhutto said the decision to merge the party with the PTI was taken with consensus as it was the only party which struggled for change in the country. Touching upon current affairs, Qureshi said his party did not want the next polls to get delayed.
Reiterating the demand for the resignation of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, he questioned how the minister preoccupied with his personal problems will look after the country’s economic matters. He claimed Dar was under stress because of the opening of Hudaibiya Paper Mills case.
Published in Daily Times, November 11th 2017.
