The spark for this nascent revolt was the decision by Zardari senior to admit a former political rival, Irfanullah Marwat, into the PPP fold. There is a history. Specifically Benazir Bhutto had spoken in 1991 about the alleged atrocities, including rape and torture, which had been suffered by women when Marwat was a home adviser in Sindh. Families have long memories and the Bhutto daughters were quickly onside with their late mother with the discreet support of their brother.
A revolt within the family was always latent, and as the children have grown older they have also grown in confidence, both public and private. The meeting between Zardari and Marwat in Dubai in the last week was sufficient to spark a reaction from the three scions acting in consort. This cannot bode well for party unity in general terms as the three will have supporters that may form the basis for splits and factionalisms, and with an election a year away a divided party is not going to help the PPP that is anyway on the political back foot nationally. With Mr Zardari harvesting electables wherever he can in order to boost the chances of the party in the election next year, the potential for discord only increases. We watch with interest.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 3rd, 2017.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ