Better late: PPP sets up 7 committees to recover lost ground

Committees constituted in Rawalpindi, Mandi Bahauddin, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Okara and Lahore.

LAHORE:

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Punjab president Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo said on Tuesday that the party had constituted seven monitoring committees for select districts to revive its fortunes in the Punjab.

He was speaking to reporters after chairing a meeting in this regard. The committees have been constituted in Rawalpindi, Mandi Bahauddin, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Okara and Lahore. The committees are composed of two members and a convener each.



A party official speaking to The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity said the committees have been tasked to monitor the performance of party officials in the districts. He said the committee members would compile reports on their performance and present them to the president.

Wattoo said street protests were an anathema to the party as it could compromise the democratic process. Wattoo said he held Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan in high regard as he was a politician of national stature. He said he regretted that Khan had placed his career at stake to secure Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation.



Wattoo said this was impossible as Sharif enjoyed the support of most political parties and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly. He said Khan would have to follow Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri’s lead as he would be unable to sustain the sit-in at Islamabad’s D-Chowk for long. Wattoo said he would start losing popular support as the people would ultimately get disillusioned with politics through street politics. He said Khan should not have placed his career at stake by insisting on Sharif’s resignation.

Wattoo said energy crisis and the increase in power tariffs had made lives of the people miserable. He said electricity cost had become prohibitive as tariffs had risen by up to 300 per cent.  Wattoo said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif should explain this as he used to protest against the energy crisis during the previous government’s tenure at Minto Park. He said the crisis had worsened under the present government and the people were unable to pay power bills.

Wattoo said the crisis had wreaked havoc on agriculture as farmers were unable to irrigate their lands due to continuous power-cuts. He urged the government to follow the previous government’s lead and provide them with uninterrupted power for at least three hours to enable them to water their lands.

PPP Punjab secretary general Tanvir Ashraf Kaira was also present on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2014.