PTI to deal with inflation in six months, says Sindh lawmaker Raja Azhar

KARACHI: Raja Azhar is a prominent activist and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf member of the Sindh Assembly. Here he talks to Bol News about prevailing national issues, particularly inflation, as well as his party’s prospects in Sindh’s electoral landscape.

Q: How would PTI counter inflation?

I agree that we have failed to counter inflation and as a result the underprivileged are facing difficulties in [making] both ends [meet]. It is pointless to say that there is no inflation. But I request the people to wait for another six months. The decision has been taken for providing relief to common people and the PTI government is all set to fulfil the promises made during the 2018 elections.

Q: Should another census be conducted before the 2023 elections or not?

In my opinion, the census should be conducted before the general elections, but local bodies elections should be held before census so that civic facilities can be delivered to the people. Moreover, local bodies election is important for all political parties, as PPP government has failed to serve the common people and there is hue and cry among the people. As such the local bodies election is much more important than census.

Q: Why do people not trust PTI in Sindh?

This is a wrong assumption as we have witnessed that in 2013 and 2018 elections, people of rural and urban Sindh rejected the parties including PPP and MQM and voted for PTI which does not believe in playing the card of ethnicity or religion in politics. Whereas other political parties in Sindh ask for votes on the basis of ethnicity. As such people of Sindh have already rejected them. The next election will be ours, I assure.

Q: Why is the PTI so reluctant to accept the vote bank of the other parties in Sindh?

It is because the Sindh government is still not serving the common people of Sindh. The recent incident of Nazim Jokhio case can be cited as an example wherein MPA of ruling party was allegedly involved in the killing of a common man. On the other hand without land reforms people cannot put trust on election results, because in a feudal system true political party cannot come up and as such real election results cannot be found.

Q: Tell me something about your personal performance for the common people of Sindh? 

A few months back I have been barred [from entering] Sindh Assembly building when me and other PTI lawmakers staged a unique protest and brought charpoy to mark the funeral of democracy. I repeat my position that PPP and other parties have failed to deliver. They maintain an authoritarian stance and neither do anything themselves nor allow other parties to serve the people. People now need real democracy so that MPAs or MNAs could only focus on lawmaking while unions and councils continue to serve the common people, so the local government election is need of the hour, I repeat.