Divided stand: PPP appears divided on Benazir’s death anniversary

Punjab and Lahore chapters arrange separate ceremonies.

LAHORE:

The Punjab and Lahore chapters of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) failed to arrange a joint ceremony on Saturday to observe the seventh death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The party’s provincial organisation arranged a function at the Punjab Secretariat and the Lahore wing a function at Aiwan-i-Iqbal.

Punjab president Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo attended both the functions.

“No other senior party leader attended the ceremony at the Punjab Secretariat. Senators Jehangir Badr and Aitezaz Ahsan, former minister Samina Khalid Ghurki and former governor Latif Khosa went to Aiwan-i-Iqbal,” a former member of the Central Executive Committee told The Express Tribune.

“Wattoo made a smart move by attending both the functions. He wanted to give the impression that there were no differences in the party which is contrary to fact.”



Ahsan told the ceremony at Aiwan-i-Iqbal that former prime ministers Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto were brave leaders. “Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had himself walked to the gallows and asked the executioner, Tara Masih, to hurry up,” he said.

He said many world leaders had contacted Ziaul Haq for his release but the former president had demanded that he write an apology in person.

“Had Zulfikar written an apology, it would have been the most published sentence in the country’s history. He was a brave man who chose instead to go to the gallows,” the senator said.

He said he and Benazir had once gone seeing Asif Ali Zardari in a Landhi jail.

“She was accompanied by Bilawal and Bakhtwar. It was summer and she had to sit on some bricks in the heat. I got angry and was about to go to superintendent’s office to ask for a chair but she stopped me,” Ahsan said.

Commenting on the PPP’s poor performance in the 2013 general elections, Ahsan said he would soon publish a white paper on the electoral rigging.

He said the PPP had expressed concerns over non-implementation of the Protection of Pakistan Bill at a recent meeting chaired on the Nation Action Plan, chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“In the 11-hour meeting, seven hours were spent on the discussion related to military courts’ working. Keeping our reservations aside, we will see how these courts can be made functional under the ambit of law.”

Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas said Benazir’s killers had not been arrested seven years after her assassination. He said party workers were in a fix regarding who to blame as the PPP had ruled the country for five years out of those seven years.

Speaking at the Punjab chapter’s ceremony, Wattoo said he was thankful to the country’s leadership for following Benazir’s vision of fighting terrorism.

Prayers were also offered for those who had lost their lives in a terrorist attack at a school in Peshawar on December 16.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2014.