Informal meeting: Khosa tries to woo PPP stalwart back

Mazari upset over Punjab CM’s move not to set up school in constituency.

LAHORE:

Veteran politician and former caretake prime minister Balakh Ser Mazari called on Punjab Governor Abdul Latif Khosa at the Governor House on Sunday in what appeared to be a bid to woo back the estranged party leader.

Sources said that the move may have been triggered by a rift with the PML-N over the setting up of a school in Mazari’s home district.

The former caretake prime minister was accompanied by his grandson, Dost Muhammad Khan Mazari.

A Governor House official said that the two leaders “informally discussed national issues and constitutional developments”.

Sources said that Khosa has been assigned the task of strengthening the PPP in southern Punjab by bringing back into the party fold estranged office-bearers.

The sources said that Balakh Sher had developed good ties with PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif. But just before Balakh was about to announce joining the PML-N, a rift developed over the establishment of a branch of Danish School in Rajanpur district.

Previously, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had announced setting up the school in Rojhan tehsil, Balakh’s constituency.

Sources were certain that Mazaris’ meeting with the governor indicated that Balakh was planning to distance himself from the PML-N. They, however, cautioned that it would be too premature to speculate on future political implications of the meeting.

Balakh Sher Mazari later told The Express Tribune that he admired the PPP as it was when Benazir Bhutto was alive, but poor law and order situation, corruption and bad governance were salient features of the current government.

He said that he had good ties with Khosa’s elders and, therefore, he had been invited by Khosa for a “cup of tea.” He said that Khosas and Mazaris lived in the same division and it was their tradition to invite each other. He said that he had invited even his political foe late Sardar Farooq Khan Leghari to his residence.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2011.