Internal discord mars PPP’s quest for rebound

Acting party president for central Punjab lands in successive controversies

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) appears to be facing brewing differences within its ranks in Punjab rather than building upon a victory in recent by-elections to consolidate its support.

However, supporters of the party’s acting central Punjab president, Rana Farooq, see reports about infighting as a conspiracy against him.

An insider disclosed on the condition of anonymity that Farooq had not been invited to a social media convention held on October 30, but he went to the podium, scolded the information secretary for not inviting him and reminded the participants of his long service to the party.

A worker reminded him of others present in the event who too had a long service for the party, but he told her to keep quiet.

However, Punjab PPP leader Faisal Mir said there had only been an episode where Farooq had expressed his dismay to the organising team for not being invited to speak.

He said someone from within the party wanted Farooq to be removed, for his vested interests. The only issue some people in the party had with Farooq was that he had called for filling the vacant party posts by November 15.

Rana Farooq conceded while talking to The Express Tribune that there had been a misunderstanding but said it was not a big issue.

Mir said he had talked only with reference to the sequence of the speakers.

The incident was followed by an alleged exchange of harsh words with an office-bearer of the party’s youth wing. However, the youth wing leader, Zeeshan, insists that he regards Farooq as a senior.

The sources said harsh remarks passed against senior leader Atizaz Ahsan earlier had also been disliked within the party.

They said a regional executive committee meeting convened recently had been attended by less than half of the members.

Mir denied this claim also, saying there were 23 participants of this meeting. He said Farooq’s insistence during the meeting to fill the vacant party posts had won him enemies.

A senior party leader, however, differed, saying that even the general secretary had not attended the meeting. He said only 19 members of the executive committee had attended the meeting, while two people representing other office-bearers had been wrongly counted among the participants.

He said Farooq’s disrespectful attitude had caused resentment but the provincial leaders had not yet taken up the matter with the senior leadership.

Replying to a question, Rana Farooq insisted that he was authorised as the regional president to decide about the legitimacy of the meeting. He said those who had missed the meeting had shown incompetence and the effort of those who had showed up should not be wasted without a fault on their part.

He said the decisions taken in the meeting would be sent to the leadership, which would decide whether they were in line with the party policy.

Faisal Mir said Farooq was trying to overcome shortcomings in a short span of time. He said the party needed a person with Rana’s hands on approach to deal with things and rise out of its dismal position in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2022.