PPP in no mood to ‘give govt a walk-over’

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that if there is one thing that he has learned from his mother, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, it is to “stay in the system and fight” instead of giving the other side a “walk-over”.

The PPP chief made his party’s intentions clear about the option of resigning en masse from the assemblies and the proposed long march expected to start from March 26 at a luncheon meeting with the lawmakers from different parties during the campaign for the Senate elections.

“Boycotting the system and resigning from assemblies shouldn’t be the way forward. If there is one thing I have learned from my mother it is that we should stay in the system and fight,” a senator quoted Bilawal as saying.

“We shouldn’t give a walk-over to the other side; we [PPP] fought even when we had only 18 lawmakers in assembly in 1997,” the PPP chairman was quoted by senator, on condition of anonymity, as telling the opposition lawmakers.

On the proposed long march, the senator said that Bilawal was in favour of it but wished that it should not be taken beyond the death anniversary of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on April 4. Bilawal also drew the lawmakers’ attention towards the holy month of Ramazan, which is expected to start from mid-April.

According to the senator, things would not be the same in the holy month if the long march was extended. “One thing is for sure, the PPP will be heading back to Larkana for Bhutto’s anniversary from April 2 or 3,” he added.

The senator said that neither the PML-N nor the PPP was in favour of resigning from the assemblies. The veteran lawmaker, while responding to a query, added that the earlier announcements of resigning from assemblies were “a bit premature”.

He revealed the PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz wants to go for a no-confidence motion against the incumbent Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani but a final decision has yet to be taken because “secret voting” could result in further “embarrassment” for the opposition alliance.

The debate about resigning from the assemblies has once again gained importance after PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman insisted that there was no point in holding a long march without resigning from the assemblies, especially, after being defeated in the election for Senate chairman.

On March 12, the ruling PTI-backed Sadiq Sanjrani of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) pulled off a surprise 48-42 victory despite opposition’s numerical superiority in the upper house, after seven votes of PDM’s Yusuf Raza Gilani were rejected.

Even more surprising was the 54-44 result of election for the post of the deputy chairman where government-backed Mirza Muhammad Afridi defeated JUI-F’s Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.

Following the shock defeat, PDM’s big three – PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman – held a telephonic conversation to discuss the Senate election result and agreed to investigate the opposition senators suspected of being close to Sanjrani.

When PML-N’s Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal was asked to comment on why Maulana Fazl is insisting on resignations, Iqbal said that the “PDM leadership will decide on these issues in its 16 March [meeting]”. He did not reply about the PML-N’s position on the issue.

Several PPP lawmakers were asked about the issue of resignations but they refrained from making any comments. Later, a PPP lawmaker, requesting anonymity, revealed that Fazl is suggesting to come out of the system and put up a fight while Bilawal believes in staying in the system and fight.

The opposition has the numbers and the people on its side, the lawmaker said. He added that the PPP supports long march but the only issue is its duration, as a sit-in after the long march amid fasting during the holy month of Ramazan would not get along.

The political temperature in the country, especially in the federal capital is on the rise since the PDM announced anti-government rallies in September last year. Since then, the opposition parties held rallies in different cities, severely criticised the government and continued mounting pressure on it.

Former prime minister Gilani’s entry on the political scene led to a major setback for the ruling party after he defeated the incumbent Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in the recently-held Senate elections on a seat from Islamabad even when the numbers favoured the ruling party.

This forced Prime Minister Imran Khan to take a vote of confidence from the National Assembly; which he did and won. However, the government made a comeback during the election of Senate chairman and deputy chairman when, despite having the numbers, the opposition parties’ joint candidates — Gilani and Haideri — were defeated.

The victory provided much-needed respite to the ruling coalition and put the opposition alliance on a back foot. The PDM meeting scheduled for March 16 will decide about the future course of the long march, resignation from the assemblies, while mulling over the shock defeat in the Senate chairman and deputy chairman elections.