Crucial PPP CEC meeting in Naudero tomorrow

Party to chalk out political strategy for upcoming year.

ISLAMABAD:

The central executive committee (CEC) of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party is expected to take crucial decisions during their meeting in Naudero on Monday where the party leadership will be gathering to observe the death anniversary of its founding chairman Zulifikar Ali Bhutto.

Sources in the party told The Express Tribune that the senior leadership of the party will take stock of the political situation in the country and is likely to take some important decisions.

Some political pundits predict an early general election before March 2012. The prediction is based on the date for the next Senate elections. If the elections take place with the current provincial assemblies in place, the PPP is likely to increase its seats in the Senate, leading some observers to believe that the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz will try for an early election to prevent that from happening.

“Relations with the MQM and future prospects of an alliance with PML-Q in case of MQM’s acquittal and situation in Punjab would also be discussed during the meeting,” said a member of CEC who wished to remain anonymous.

The ruling party would also discuss its strategy regarding National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) cases being taken up by the apex court this month and other pending judicial matters, he said.

PPP would also discuss the prospects of holding local government elections in Sindh in addition to discussing the law and order situation in Karachi.

Also likely to be on the agenda will be the issue of Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the former foreign minister whom some party leaders accuse of violating party discipline after making public his differences with party leadership on the Raymond Davis issue.

The CEC will also be briefed on the contents of the reference the law ministry has filed in the Supreme Court on Saturday on the 1979 court judgment awarding death sentence to Bhutto.

It is also likely that Interior Minister Rehman Malik would be briefing the CEC on the investigations into the Benazir Bhutto assassination case. After the UN inquiry report into her murder, the government of Pakistan conducted its own inquiry but its contents have not been made public.

The PPP had announced that it would make public the inquiry report after presenting it in the last CEC meeting but the idea was dropped at the eleventh hour. Malik claims that the inquiry report would unveil many startling aspects of the Benazir Bhutto murder case including those behind the conspiracy.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 03^rd, 2011.