Party jitters: Zardari smooths out internal party rifts

Internal rift between PPP old guard and Mahars in Ghotki prompts President to intervene.

KARACHI: With just months to go to the general elections, President Asif Ali Zardari sat down two hostile factions of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from district Ghotki at the Bilawal House to reconcile differences.

The co-chairman of the PPP has held a series of meetings with leaders and workers of various parts of Sindh to devise a combined strategy for the coming elections.

According to the sources, the warring factions were split between the old guard of leaders and workers (jiyalas) from Ghotki and the new inductees of Mahars.

The jiyalas were led by the sitting MPA and district chief of the party Ahmed Ali Pitasi, Jam Saifullah Dharejo and MPA Ikramullah Dharejo who expressed serious grievances against the Mahar brothers who have only recently joined the party. The Mahars, who were previously associated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) included the former chief minister of Sindh Ali Ahmed Mahar and Ali Gohar Mahar.

The old leaders and workers have resorted to staging demonstrations against Mahar brothers who, according to them have taken serious actions against the PPP leaders and workers in the area. They also did not want the Mahar brothers to be allowed to join the party solely for their role under the dictatorship of Pervaiz Musharraf when they were part of the PML-Q.

President Zardari, however, advised the two factions to put the past behind them and present a united front to fight the upcoming elections so that the opponents cannot not take advantage of internal party rifts.

He inquired about the problems each group was facing at the district level. The Mahar brothers said that they were not being issued funds and local youth was not being given a share in the jobs. They asked the president to advise the government to release funds so that they could use these funds within the next three months before the elections.

Zardari also enquired about the strengths and weaknesses of the opponents so that a strong strategy could be devised.