PPP to discuss resignations in CEC meeting on Tuesday

Govt’s performance, electoral reports also on agenda

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD:

The Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will meet in Karachi on Tuesday to discuss a four-point agenda, including the en masse resignation of the party lawmakers from the assemblies on the call of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will chair the CEC meeting at the Bilawal House, Karachi, on Tuesday (today) afternoon. The meeting will also be attended by former president and the party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari via a video link.

According to sources, the party has included the resignations issue in the agenda of the meeting. Other points include the two and half year performance of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Inaf (PTI) government and electoral reforms in the country.

The meeting comes days before a meeting of the party heads of the PDM scheduled for January 2. PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman had convened the PDM summit meeting after meeting with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi last week.

“Proposal for resigning from the assemblies is included in the agenda,” a PPP source in Islamabad said. “Suggestions regarding resignations will be sought from the CEC members and the final decision in this regard is expected in the meeting.”

Another source in Karachi confirmed that the meeting would “consider the political situation in the country as well as the PDM's movement, especially the issue of resignations”. The proposal [resignations] will be discussed,” the source said.

“The CEC will take the final decision after holding consultations, whether to participate in the Senate elections or not and a strategy for the by-elections,” he added. Other sources said that the CEC would also be taken into confidence by the party leadership on the track-II to talks.

The sources also said that the country's political and economic situation, the government's two-and-a-half-year performance has also been put on the CEC agenda. They added that the meeting would also pay tributes to former prime minister late Benazir Bhutto.

Earlier, it was reported that the PPP was dragging its feet on the resignations issue. Because of this, and other issue, including local political rivalries, Fazl, who is also the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), skipped the PPP rally in Larkana on late Bhutto’s 13th anniversary on Sunday.

PPP, JUI-F and PML-N are part of the 11-party PDM alliance, which had launched a campaign to dislodge the PTI government, and have announced plans for en masse resignations from assemblies and long march on Islamabad early next year.

It was also reported Fazl had been angry that Zardari had bluntly refused to resign from the assemblies and leaving the Sindh government. However, the PPP leaders dispelled the rumours of any disagreement in the PDM ranks in their media talks over the weekend.

Against the backdrop of reports that the PPP and the rest of the PDM were drifting apart on the resignations, PML-N Senior Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi met with Fazl in the night between Thursday and Friday, and discussed the matter with him.

The reports added that the Abbasi impressed upon Fazl to convene a meeting of the party heads to discuss the PPP’s position on the resignations. It had been stated that Fazl had called a meeting of the party heads on January 2.