Pakistan Peoples Party distinguishes itself from other parties as it claims to be the torchbearer and upholder of the rights of hapless masses. Its leadership, from its illustrious founder Z. A. Bhutto Shaheed to Shaheed BB, always stood up to tyranny of the powerful establishment. They paid with their lives for their cause. The cadres of the party, following in footsteps of their leadership, bravely faced imprisonments, floggings and hangings but never wavered. The workers did all this not in expectation of something but to bring about a change. The culture of the party nowadays has changed for worse, though. Not all, but a large number of party workers are now indulging in the practice of encroaching the government land. In Johi tehsil of Dadu district there have been lot of encroachments during the previous government. The PPP local leadership had raised their voice against this practice at the time. Surprisingly, the same people from PPP, after coming into power now have started the same practice and have actually outdone their predecessors. Some time back DCO Dadu, Mr. Salem Raza Khero donated adequate space for a building to the Akbar Jiskani Library. The land mafia that had been eyeing that portion for a long time immediately started encroachment upon this prime property but state Minster Mr. Rafique Jamali and DCO Dadu quickly acted to save that piece of land for the Library and no damage was done. Recently one man belonging to ruling PPP broke the compound wall of the only public park in Johi and extended the construction of his new building into a large portion of the ground inside the park. A few conscientious people including the head of an NGO who had constructed this plot with the support of a multinational company mobilized the people and contacted the PPP high command. They, however, chose to support the encroacher. The PPP has a very precious legacy which must not be squandered for the sake of encroachers. -GULSHER PANHWER, Dadu, November 2.