LAHORE – By the amount of loans taken by the incumbent government in the name of “development,” it seems that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) envisions to mortgage the future of the country, said Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, provincial president of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). In an interview with Daily Times, he said that PPP, during its tenure, established a National Finance Committee Award with a vision to develop the culture of merit and empower the people at grassroots level. “We urge PML-N to establish a Provincial Finance Committee Award to further facilitate the masses and strengthen democracy,” he said. A few months ago, the PPP leader called a meeting of all opposition parties in which it was decided that they would back each other with seat adjustments in the local bodies’ elections. The meeting was attended by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Chaudhary Sarwar, Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s Khaurram Nawaz Gandapur, JUP-Noorani’s Ejaz Hashmi and Jamaat-e-Islami’s Liaquat Baloch along with representatives of different groups. Although these parties could not make any significant difference in the results, but managed to succeed in some constituencies of Okara, Faisalabad and Gujranwala. “Recently, a PTI delegation led by its vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, met Opposition Leader in National Assembly Khursheed Shah in Islamabad and discussed about forming a joint opposition in the lower house of the parliament,” the PPP leader said. “I have spoken to Sarwar and also intend to contact Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain for establishing a joint opposition in the provincial assembly.” He said with a joint opposition, the parties could better expose malpractices of the provincial government, including lack of opposition rights in the assembly, illegal use of state machinery, nepotism, corruption and injustice. Criticising Punjab government’s Orange Line Metro Train (OMT) project, he said the project was a result of illegal distribution of funds, adding that more than Rs 165 billion were being spent on 30 kilometres, which is a blatant example of bad governance. He said that the chief minister should step out of Lahore and monitor some farm-to-market roads as well, adding that the chief minister should rather work on eradication of poverty, promotion of education and facilitation of hospitals instead of forcefully grabbing the lands of innocent people of Lahore for the “elephant” project. – A leaderless campaign – “I hope he understands his priorities as chief minister.” In reply to a question regarding PPP’s downfall in Punjab, he said during the previous elections, PTI and PML-N became more popular in the province because Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif were actively campaigning for their parties, whereas PPP led a leaderless campaign. Although Asif Zardari used to hold regular party meetings in the presidency, but there was no physical presence among the people, which is very important in mainstream politics of Pakistan, he added. “I have a firm belief that there are a lot of people in the province who follow PPP on the basis of its ideology. The party has full confidence in the leadership of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who realises the importance of winning over Punjab and has decided to spend more time among the people of Lahore.” Wattoo said both PML-N and PTI were Lahore-based parties and it was important for the PPP’s leadership to “increase people-to-people contacts in the province and address their grievances.” On circulating rumours regarding his resignation as the provincial chief of PPP, he said, “I have not resigned and such rumours only depict the shallowness of our opponents. I met Bilawal Bhutto on Nov 24 in Karachi and spoke with Asif Zardari over the phone on Nov 25, but they never asked anything about my resignation. It’s just wishful thinking of a few opportunists.”