CEC meeting: All institutions must work within limits, says PPP

Ponders over taking back policing powers from Sindh Rangers

ISLAMABAD:

Amid an outpouring of anger against Asif Ali Zardari’s verbal attack on the security establishment, the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Pakistan Peoples Party came to the support of its co-chairman, demanding that all state institutions should work within their limits defined in the Constitution.

“The meeting decided that it is important for all institutions to work within their mandated constitutional parameters,” said Senator Farhatullah Babar, who is also Zardari’s spokesperson.

Sources privy to the meeting told The Express Tribune that former president briefed the meeting on reasons for his angry outburst against the army generals.

“We were held incompetent after [May 13] Safoora incident [in Karachi]. When I tried to explain I was stopped from doing that. This was followed by statements of corps commander [Karachi] and now by DG Rangers [Sindh]. I was forced to speak out,” Zardari was quoted as saying during the meeting.

Sources said the meeting also discussed the option of taking back the policing powers from the paramilitary Rangers, given to them when the operation to restore law and order in Karachi started.

Some participants proposed that it was the Sindh government that gave the Rangers these powers and it could also withdraw some of the powers including the power to conduct raids.



Zardari’s sister, Faryal Talpur, floated the idea that Bilawal should contest elections for a national assembly seat. Other participants endorsed the idea and suggested that he might contest by-elections from Larkana on the seat from where his mother Benazir Bhuto used to contest or any other safe constituency of the PPP in Sindh and later assume the role of leader of opposition.

However it was left up to Bilawal if he wanted to get elected in a by-election or wait for the next general elections. The meeting also discussed possible changes in the Sindh government.

The PPP leaders and former prime ministers, Yousaf Raza Gillani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, offered that the senior leaders of the party should resign and allow young chairman Bilawal to select a new team.

The party also decided to reorganise itself in the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), where it badly performed during this month’s elections for the legislative assembly. It also dissolved the party organisation in the G-B to elect new office bearers.

A statement issued after the meeting said the meeting also discussed the matter of party’s Balochistasn chapter and decided to reorganise the party in the province. “In light of the upcoming local government polls in Sindh and Punjab, decisions to activate the workers and award tickets on merit were taken” the statements said.

The PPP would continue its protest movement against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government with tripartite opposition alliance against the alleged anomalies in LG polls held in the province on May 30.

The party also decided that it will take a clear position on initiating and supporting the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and will continue to play a key role in building consensus on it. However, it would press the government to develop western route along with eastern route.

For this purpose the party will be using the forum of parliamentary committee, constituted to oversee the project. It demanded that allocations in the federal budget be enhanced to Rs100 billion so that the work on western route can also be initiated at the same time.

To a question, Babar confirmed that Zardari’s meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was due on Wednesday but it was cancelled. “I was told yesterday that there was a meeting scheduled with the PM today [but] when I came to Zardari House this morning I was told that it has been postponed” he said.

Babar said the CEC also took note of the recent hostile statements made by the Indian leadership and said these statements were not conducive to making peace in the region.

The PPP resolved to support the military in the crucial Zarb-e-Azb and counter terror operations, he said.

“The sacrifices and martyrs of the army, police and law enforcement forces were appreciated and recognised. The PPP demanded that the federal government pay its full attention to pursuing the National Action Plan as envisaged in the APC in December 2014” he said.


Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2015.