Overhaul needed: Time to cleanse the PPP, claims Naheed Khan

Former political secretary to Benazir laments state of party today

SUKKUR: It is time to get rid of corrupt leaders and cleanse the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), urged former political secretary to Benazir Bhutto Naheed Khan at a PPP (Workers) convention in Sukkur on Saturday evening.

She added that the PPP is not a party of a few leaders, instead it is the name of the ideology of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. Referring to the poor conditions in Tharparkar, she said ignorant and incapable rulers are blind to the people's miseries.



According to her, the whole country is facing terrible economic problems and the rulers are busy looting and plundering resources by initiating projects like the Metro Bus, Orange Line Train and Green Line Bus Rapid Transit. "People are committing suicides and killing their children due to extreme poverty, therefore it has become imperative to raise our voice against this," she said.

Strongly criticising Asif Ali Zardari and others, she claimed they have caused extensive damage to Bhutto's party, adding that once the most popular party throughout the country, PPP has been now confined to a few districts of Sindh.

"PPP belongs to the people of Pakistan and we will not allow anybody to make it a family party," she vowed.

President of the PPP (Workers), Safdar Abbasi, expressed anxiety over the PPP's state of affairs and said the party of the Bhuttos has become a party of the elite. "The workers, not the leaders, make parties strong," he said, adding that the Bhuttos would treat their workers like brothers and sisters but today's leadership is reluctant to meet them at all.



Former PPP MPA and a close aide of Bhutto and Benazir, Ghulam Qadir Bhutto, paid rich tribute to the Bhuttos and said they were the real leaders who always wanted to remain among their workers. Today, workers are left far behind and the leaders are moving fast to achieve their vested interests, he said. "Today we have gathered here to provide a chance to the workers to speak," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 29^th,  2016.