Governor Makhdoom Syed Ahmed Mehmood on Sunday announced that his sons, MNA Makhdoom Syed Mustafa Mehmood, MPA Makhdoom Syed Murtaza Mehmood and Makhdoom Syed Ali Mehmood had joined the Pakistan People’s Party.
The announcement came during a public gathering at the governor’s hometown Rahim Yar Khan, where he was accompanied by former prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani.
The governor said he hoped that his sons would become “Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s strength in years to come”.
The governor arrived in the city by air at 1:30pm. A large crowd awaited him at the Mehmood Stadium.
People from Ihsanpur, Abadpur, Thal Hassan, Dolatpur and Shahpur attended the address. The caravan from Ihsanpur was led by former nazim Jam Bagan Laal and former councillor Jam Muhammad Akram. Former nazim Ghulam Qasim Khan Korai led the convoy from Thal Hassan. Jam Mir Ahmad led the Abadpur convoy, Makhdoom Hassan Raza Qureshi Hashmi the Dolatpur convoy and Sardar Malik Zabihullah the Shahpur convoy. The governor said that he did not need any protocol, because “he was a people’s governor”. “I promise you that the government will empower people. It represents the poor,” he said. He said he would not disappoint the people.
He said that the doors of the Governor’s House were always open to the people of the Punjab.
Supporting the call for timely general elections, he said, he would not claim any benefits as governor. He urged the people to elect honest politicians as their leaders.
He said he was not oblivious to the problems and miseries of the people of southern Punjab. But, he added, the power to get rid of them lay in the hands of the people themselves. He said he will not shatter the trust President Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had showed in him.
Gilani said the PPP will keep its promise to sustain democracy in Pakistan. “Fair elections favour the PPP. We will win the next elections with a significant margin.” Jamaat-i-Islami Ameer Dr Syed Wasim Akhtar and Farooq Aziz Gujjar also attended the meeting.
Strict security arrangements were made across the city, especially around the Mehmood Stadium, where hundreds of police personnel were deputed and several walk-through gates installed.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2013.