Clamping down: Zardari warns party leadership to set the house in order

Get your act straight before January 5 or join Imran Khan on the container, says PPP co-chairperson.

PESHAWAR:

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari has forewarned the provincial leadership of the party in subtle words to set things in order before he intervenes.

Insiders claim that the former president is displeased with the prevalent factionalism in the party’s K-P chapter and addressed the issue during a party gathering in Lahore on Tuesday. Having bagged only a handful of seats in the 2013 general elections, PPP’s K-P chapter is plagued with wrangling within its ranks. The tussle has mired the provincial chapter in intra-party politics for the past several months, wherein some of the senior leaders are on a warpath against the party’s present organisational hierarchy.



A party leader privy to the matter told The Express Tribune the Lahore address was a clear warning for disgruntled leaders to refrain from weakening the party further. “It was a loud and clear message for those involved,” he said.

He added that Zardari had a senior PPP stalwart in mind when he talked about giving key positions to leaders who have been out of action for the past 20 years. He maintained that the wrangling is nothing more than a storm in a teacup and will pass soon.

The party insider said that Masud Kausar, Lal Khan and Azam Afridi stand on weak political footing while party workers from across the province have full faith in the provincial leadership. He said intra-party polls for structural reorganisation are under way and chapters have been formed in Hazara and Mardan, while chapters in Charsadda and Nowshera will soon follow.

He rejected the claims of an imminent shakedown of the provincial leadership and said that Zardari will visit K-P next month for a workers convention.

‘Not us’

A leader of a disgruntled group requesting anonymity denied the assertion that the former president’s criticism targeted his faction. “Party workers had protested against incumbent president Khanzada Khan and the message was for the provincial leadership,” he believed.

He said the committee comprising Senator Farhatullah Babar, ND Khan and Aurangzeb Burki looking into the differences in K-P chapters had also endorsed the demand of holding intra-party elections.

He said his faction has asked for action against corrupt ministers and fresh
intra-party polls. “We have already conveyed our grievances to the co-chairman in a meeting in October,” he said.

‘Official’ take

PPP K-P spokesperson Liaquat Shabab told The Express Tribune that Zardari’s words were specifically meant for the rival groups in K-P. He said the former president has made it clear that those who do not get their act straight before his visit on January 5 “can join Imran Khan on the container”.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2014.