Fresh start: PPP looks to renew strategy prior to elections in G-B

Senior party leadership admits image has been tarnished by corruption scams.

GILGIT: As elections in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) draw closer, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has formulated a strategy to rebuild the party’s image that has been tarnished by allegations of corruption and illegal appointments.

Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Chief Minister Mehdi Shah recently met the party’s co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari at Bilawal House in Karachi to discuss the future of his party in G-B.

“We are done with the strategy of turning the tables on our opponents,” claimed a senior leader of PPP, who spearheads the coalition government in G-B.

Though PPP won with an overwhelming majority in the 2009 elections, it accommodated parties like Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in the government under Zardari’s policy of reconciliation, making them part of the Mehdi Shah cabinet.

“Given the scams of corruption and illegal appointments, followed by the ‘media trial’ of PPP, it became necessary for the party leadership to devise a plan to turn challenges into opportunities,” said the senior leader, requesting anonymity.

Over the years, the PPP government came under repeated criticism, even from its own lawmakers, including Wazir Baig and Mohammad Naseer. Last year, Baig demanded setting up the National Accountability Bureau in G-B to investigate the alleged corruption of ministers.

After Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz replaced PPP in the centre last year, much to the annoyance of Mehdi Shah, things abruptly changed for his government in G-B.

With support from Islamabad, the bureaucracy, headed by G-B Chief Secretary Younus Dagha, refused to toe the line of Mehdi Shah’s government. Subsequently, nearly 1,000 employees appointed to various government departments, by allegedly ignoring protocol, were shown the door. These were in addition to nearly one dozen officials of the public works department suspended on charges of corruption.

In party and cabinet meetings, this ‘cleansing drive’ was taken as an embarrassment for the government. However, in order to save face, the ministers kept publicly claiming responsibility for the inquiries that led to the removal of the employees.

“It was agreed in Shah’s meeting with Zardari, that a committee will be formed to discuss an election strategy with other parties,” read a press release issued by the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2014.