Retaining partners: ‘PPP likely to contest polls with MQM, ANP’

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira says the possibility remains even though no formal declaration has been made.

KARACHI:

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has entered into an alliance with Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told journalists after his arrival in Karachi on Sunday.

“We will contest the coming general elections together,” he said in reply to a question. Kaira added that while Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP) were also PPP’s allies, there was no formal agreement for contesting the elections together as yet.

“There is a possibility, however, that we will contest the polls together with MQM and ANP,” he maintained.

According to the minister, PPP desires ‘no bitterness’ in politics.“It was Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s vision to follow politics of reconciliation and forge tolerance,” he said, adding that President Asif Ali Zardari pursued that policy despite all hurdles.

Speaking at a seminar later, organised by the Peoples Youth Organisation’s Karachi division, Kaira claimed PPP’s opponents were afraid of President Asif Ali Zardari’s politics of reconciliation.

“We need a political president today, since all past conspiracies in the country were initiated from the President House,” said Kaira in a veiled reference to the Asghar Khan case.

“For the first time in the history of Pakistan, we have a democratic government that will complete its tenure … Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has eliminated the politics of hatred,” he maintained, adding that politics of reconciliation will guarantee Pakistan’s future.

“PPP’s vision is a prosperous, secular Pakistan. We have to look ahead. A stable Pakistan is only possible with political tolerance.”

Kaira claimed his party has sacrificed more for Pakistan than any other political party.



“We were handed Pakistan’s government in 2008, when bomb blasts were a routine and law and order across the country was pathetic. We faced internal and external challenges alike. Pakistan was alone at international level and not a single Muslim state was ready to support it,” he said, while talking about the performance of the government. “The PPP along with its allies had done a lot for the people and the country.”

South Punjab province

In his earlier talk with journalists on his arrival, Kaira said the process to form the South Punjab province was under way. He said that the time period granted to the commission responsible for forming the province had expired and it had been notified as such. The commission will submit its report to the National Assembly soon, he added.

(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2012.