Mustering support: President launches campaign to woo disgruntled leaders

Constitutes committee to be headed by Yousaf Raza Gilani.

KARACHI:

In a bid to woo the disgruntled coalition partners of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Sindh, President Asif Zardari has constituted a committee led by former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani.

It was decided during a PPP core committee meeting at Bilawal House on Wednesday that the newly-formed committee is tasked with pursuing the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and National Peoples Party (NPP) to form an alliance with the ruling party in Sindh.

Gilani, who is also a relative of Pir Pagara, along with other members of the committee including Khursheed Shah, Naveed Qamar, Manzoor Wassan, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Agha Siraj Durrani will approach the dissatisfied leaders of the various parties to resolve differences and convince them to rejoin the coalition force.

Sources familiar with the development told The Express Tribune that during the core committee meeting, President Asif Ali Zardari was briefed about the anti-PPP alliance led by PML-F leader Pir Pagara, who along with Sindhi nationalists has announced an indefinite campaign against the Sindh Peoples Local Government System 2012. They have also announced a ‘Black Day’ and will observe a strike on November 30 to oppose the new governance system.

Sources revealed that the president has directed his party leaders to make amendments to the local government law in order to pacify PML-F and other infuriated parties who have parted ways with the Sindh government on the issue.

In a second meeting on Wednesday, President Zardari formed another committee led by MNA Faryal Talpur for the preparation of the upcoming elections. The committee has been given full mandate to negotiate with different influential groups and parties to join the PPP.

Talking to reporters, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said that the president was given a briefing regarding the law and order situation of Karachi and arrangements made by police and Rangers to deal with any untoward incident.



He said that President Zardari appreciated the government’s effort and directed them to continue the reconciliation policy and woo the enraged leaders of different political parties. “We respect Pir Pagara and will pursue him to resolve all matters through negotiations,” he said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, PML-F leader Imtiaz Shaikh asserted that his party would not rejoin the government and would prefer to sit on the opposition benches instead. “We are clear in our stance. First, PPP should withdraw the system and its ministers should tender an apology on misbehaving with our female MPAs during the Sindh Assembly proceedings, then we will consider rejoining the government,” he said.

Funds for flood victims

During the PPP core committee meeting, President Zardari also directed the chief minister to launch a flood victim fund by allocating Rs5 billion for the survivors.

The president assured the chief minister that the federal government would bear half of the expenses and directed him to accelerate rehabilitation work for the victims before the upcoming elections.

Backdoor negotiations?

Meanwhile, Muhammad Ali Malkani of the Shirazi group of Thatta also met President Zardari on Wednesday.

Though no party leaders were willing to share information about the meeting with the media, official sources said that Malkani was accompanied by the chief minister of Sindh.

Malkani along with the Shirazi brothers, who belong to PML-Q led by the Chaudhry brothers, had earlier announced that they would join the PPP in the first week of November, but later postponed their decision due to stiff resistance by their leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who had threatened to quit the coalition if the Shirazi group joined the PPP.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2012.