Party restructuring becomes order of day

PPP, PTI, PML-Q all looking to take the fight to ruling party

LAHORE: All political parties are gearing up for general elections in the country next year and restructuring seems to be the order of the day.

Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and other regional parties are in the process of reorganisation at various levels.

The PTI Punjab leadership, on Saturday, announced a 31-member party organisation for district Sheikhupura.

PTI Punjab President Abdul Aleem Khan said his party had started preparations for the next general elections as it was expecting a tough fight with PML-N. The party, he underscored, decided not to leave the floor open for its opponents. He also indicated PPP could not regain its popularity in Punjab.

He said Imran Khan would make the next government as the whole nation was behind the man who struggled to end corruption from the country despite the fact that his party was not in government, he concluded

Earlier on Tueday, Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari approved office-bearers for Lahore and Sahiwal divisions after a long process of interviews and consultation which started last year.



This exercise has been underway across Pakistan after the PPP initiated a party reorganisation process following a drubbing in the 2013 elections.

Notifications issued by the party show Rai Shahjehan was appointed as the Lahore president and Haji Falak Sher as general secretary. Syed Ibrab Shah has been appointed as Nankana Sahib president and Advocate Rana Ali Asghar is general secretary. Syed Tariq Shah has been appointed as Kasur president, while Mirza Naseemul Hassan is general secretary.

Khurram Manzoor Wattoo has been appointed as the Sahiwal divisional president while Ali Fareed Kathia is the general secretary. Zaki Chaudhry has been appointed Sahiwal district president and Shafqat Cheema is the general secretary.

For Pakpattan district, Humayun Sarwar Bodla was inducted as president and Shouqat Bajwa as general secretary. Chaudhry Sajjadul Hassan had been appointed as Okara district president and Shahzad Ahmed Noul as general secretary.

Also, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers have already started shifting their loyalties ahead of general elections next year.

On Wednesday, more than a dozen PML-N workers announced joining Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid.

A PML-N workers delegation, under the leadership of Talha Usman Sindhu, Mohammad Akbar Mayo and Habibullah Shaheen, called on PML-Q senior leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi at his residence to make the announcement. PML-Q MPA Aamir Sultan Cheema was also present on the occasion.

Elahi said people were coming towards the real Muslim league as the current ruling party had been exposed and would no longer be allowed to cheat people. He added the false promises, hollow slogans and baseless claims of PML-N had come to the fore and the people of the country were now seething with anger.

Welcoming the newcomers to his party, Elahi said it was a positive development and old Muslim leaguers should join the newcomers to make the party stronger and more active.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2017.