PPP leadership to join today’s protest

District stalwarts, including president, decide not to join provincial leaders.

PESHAWAR:

A day after Pakistan Peoples Party’s Peshawar leadership distanced itself from the tripartite alliance, the provincial leadership announced the party’s participation in a joint protest on Tuesday (today) against alleged rigging during local government elections. Party leaders reiterated PPP remained a member of the tripartite alliance.

“We have completed all preparations and not only the provincial, but also the central leadership will participate,” said PPP K-P President Khanzada Khan on Monday at a news conference at Peshawar Press Club. Rahimdad Khan, Najamuddin Khan, Engineer Humayun Khan, Malik Tahmash Khan and Nighat Orakzai were also present.

Khan said former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani would join the protest, while district leaderships would also take part along with the student, lawyer and women wings of the PPP.

ANP, PPP and JUI-F—the members of the tripartite alliance—called for the demonstration and accused the ruling party PTI of mismanaging and rigging the local government elections. PPP leaders said they were prepared to go to jail or face any type of situation to raise their voice against PTI.



The great divide

Earlier, PPP Peshawar President Zulfiqar Afghani and senior leader Zahir Ali Shah criticised the alliance with JUI-F and ANP, saying they would not be part of the June 16 demonstration. They believed senior provincial party figures failed to lead their party in a competent manner in K-P.

However, the PPP seniors responded to the criticism and said “certain people” are trying to create a misconception about the alliance with other parties. They reiterated PPP stands firm with JUI-F and ANP.

“It was not the failure of the leadership, but massive rigging by PTI, which was the reason PPP did not perform well,” said Khanzada. “We are with our allies and will hold a massive protest on June 16.”

While strongly condemning the statements and decisions of disgruntled PPP members, the provincial president said he would not recommend any action against them. “They are senior members and have rendered huge sacrifices to strengthen the party in K-P.”

Meanwhile, Rahimdad Khan acknowledged there were possibilities of misunderstanding between the coalition. “This is a coalition and mistakes do happen,” said the PPP chairman of the alliance.

Khan said PPP stalwarts strongly condemned the rhetoric of district leaders, adding every party has rules which need to be followed.

He added that the central leadership had also taken notice of the discord. “We cannot tolerate statements against the leadership of the party any longer.”

Khan reiterated the PPP leadership was loyal to the party and was struggling for its sake. MPA Nighat Orakzai, who also leads the women’s wing of the party, announced she would be part of the protest. She said the women of the party would also take active part in the demonstration scheduled for Tuesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2015.