PPP smells conspiracy against elections

Zardari declines another Sharif request for meeting

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) appears reluctant to support the 24th constitutional amendment bill in the Senate, suspecting that its passage is part of a conspiracy by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to delay the general elections scheduled for 2018.

The bill seeks amendment to Article 51 of the Constitution for allocating seats in the National Assembly in accordance with this year’s census.

Moreover, a special provision is being inculcated to allow the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct delimitation of constituencies on the basis of provisional results of the headcount.

However, the existing law states that the delimitation will be done once final results of the census are officially notified.

After an initial hiccup, the National Assembly passed the bill last Friday.

The bill remained on the Senate’s agenda for three consecutive sittings this week, but was deferred every time.

On Wednesday, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, on the request of the Leader of Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan and Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq, announced its inclusion on the order of the day for Monday instead of Friday (today).



The PPP is the largest party in the Senate where combined strength of opposition parties exceeds that of the treasury members.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has approached Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah to seek PPP’s support in getting the 24th constitutional amendment passed from the Senate.

The PPP leaders claimed that the beleaguered ruling party also sought PPP’s help with the increasing animosity against different state institutions during the meeting.

The PPP on Thursday leaked the news that the ruling party had once again requested a meeting of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif with former president Asif Ali Zardari, which the latter declined.

“Earlier, they had been approaching us through their ministers. Now they have utilised this [PM’s] channel,” Secretary Information of PPP Punjab chapter Chaudhry Manzoor confirmed.

According to him, some people in the party believed that the 24th amendment could delay the general elections in case assemblies were dissolved before their scheduled time.

In case of dissolution of assemblies before their scheduled time, elections would be held within 90 days.

If the 24th amendment bill was passed, it would take ECP around six months to complete fresh delimitations, which means elections would be delayed.



According to the PPP leaders, if the political situation deteriorates further, the ruling party may dissolve assemblies before the stipulated time and utilise delay in holding of polls in its favour by launching some kind of street movement to build momentum.

When asked if the PPP would support the bill on Monday, Manzoor said he could not say anything since his party had yet to take a decision.

Bilawal’s address

Speaking to the media on Thursday, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said, “Ousted premier Nawaz Sharif does not understand the meaning of ideology. He is an opportunist who changes stance for his own political purposes.”

He emphasised that his party had a very clear ideology and stance on democracy, but PML-N had always switched its position for political gains.

The political history of the country was witness to Sharif supporting conspiracies against democracy, he said, adding that Sharif was a threat to democracy.

Bilawal said Sharif had to change his mentality, attitude and conduct. “He should not endanger democracy as a whole only for his personal gains,” he said of Sharif, adding that the country had a young and fertile democracy.

Sharif should subside his own problems and respect democracy and rule of the law, he said. Sharif should accept the advice he had given to former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and allow the law to take its course, he said, adding that if innocent, the deposed PM should not have any concerns, otherwise he should be treated like a criminal.

Answering a question, Bilawal said, “I am in no mood to engage with Sharifs at the moment. The PPP has empowered its parliamentary leadership… if the ruling party wants to engage for democracy or specifics, they should approach the PPP’s parliamentary leadership.”

“Political leadership of the country has to think about Pakistan instead of India and America, when dealing with militant organisations that have the capacity to carry out attacks. Monopoly of violence should be with the state,” he said while responding to a question about the release of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.

Speaking about Ishaq Dar, he said even though the decision came late, the finance minister was finally removed. “How could a person, unable to sign his own cheque, sign Pakistan’s cheque,” he wondered.