Intra-party rifts: Senior provincial PPP leaders ditch leadership meeting in Karachi

Party members hint some leaders were not content with the new K-P president.

PESHAWAR:

Deepening rifts between intra-party ranks came to the fore as many senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders decided to skip a meeting aimed to ‘empower” the newly-selected provincial leadership.

The meeting, which was called by Faryal Talpur in Karachi, was meant to boost the morale of the newly-elected provincial president Khanzada Khan.

Tensions come at a crucial time when the party is gearing up for the local body polls, which are around the corner.  Party sources and officials said senior leaders along with Khanzada, general secretary Humayan Khan and other leaders were meeting Talpur, sister of PPP co-chairman and former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari.

The meeting was on-going till the filing of this report.

However, sources privy to the meeting told The Express Tribune some leaders decided to ditch the event despite being extended the invitations, which were issued by the PPP’s central leadership – hinting at the widening cracks in the party over the appointment of the new provincial president. “It seems like Khanzada is going to be the nominal president of the party,” said a source attending the Karachi meeting.

Though the meeting is aimed at propping up Khanzada, the provincial president refrained from extending the invitation to those members close to him as to not offend other members not invited.

Those not in attendance included former PPP Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) president Rahim Dad Khan, Abdul Akbar Khan, Azam Afridi, the party’s coordination secretary Syed Ayub Shah, Arbab Almgir Khan and his wife Asma Alamgir, and Faisal Karim Kundi.

Another party official said the meeting was being attended by three former provincial presidents, including Syed Zahir Ali Shah, Sardar Ali Khan and Anwar Saifullah Khan, besides the heads of affiliated wings.

The official denied reports of the meeting discussing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) offer to the PPP to join the K-P government. “If the party was interested in joining the government, it would not have issued MPA Fakhr Alam Wazir a show-cause notice for meeting K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak. Reports about the PPP joining the PTI-led government are just rumours,” he explained.

There were conflicting views on whether the issue of party reorganisation came under discussion. While a party official stated it would, provincial information secretary Liaqat Shahbab said it was not part of the meeting’s agenda.

Discussions will revolve around the change of leadership and the strategy for local body polls, he explained. The regional leadership will again meet in Peshawar to further deliberate on pre-poll preparation, added Shahbab.

“The party was not going to make any changes to its provincial cabinet in near future.” Since the provincial president’s seat went vacant after Anwar Saifullah Khan’s resignation, it was duly filled while the rest of the cabinet’s composition will remain the same, he stated.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2013.