Dubai huddle: PPP to resist federal ‘interference’ in Sindh

To raise federal agencies’ raids in assemblies, public meetings

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Peoples Party has condemned the ‘interference’ of some federal institutions in Sindh and decided to resist such moves by raising the issue in a ‘constitutional manner’ in parliament, as well as in public meetings to be held for the upcoming local government elections in Sindh and Punjab. 

This decision was taken in a meeting of PPP’s top leaders in Dubai on Saturday. PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari presided over the meeting where participants dubbed the actions by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) as ‘political victimisation’ of the PPP.

“The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government has set a new precedent for victimisation. We have decided in principle to consult constitutional experts on the unilateral actions of the federal agencies,” a PPP leader said.  “If the situation persists, we will move the judiciary and pursue other ways to resist these actions by approaching the masses,” he added. “District-level public gatherings will be organised to expose the real face of the PML-N government.”

Sources in the party said Saturday’s meeting also discussed the possibility of forming a grand opposition alliance against the PML-N by approaching all parties, including PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami, for the local government elections.

“Apart from this, we have decided to revamp the party after the LG elections. Changes will be made in all party cadres with the approval of Central Executive Committee,” a senior leader told The Express Tribune by the telephone from Dubai. “The incumbent provincial, divisional and district presidents will be replaced with news faces,” he added.

Sources said Khursheed Shah briefed the meeting about the entire political scenario including raids by the Rangers, the FIA and NAB in Sindh and subsequent arrests of PPP leaders Dr Asim Hussain, Ali Nawaz Shah, and bureaucrats.

“All elected representatives have been asked to raise this issue on the floor of the provincial assemblies, the National Assembly and the Senate by protesting inside and outside the houses,” a party source said.

The meeting decided to organise big rallies in the Sindh and Punjab districts where elections will be held in the first phase of the LG polls on October 31.

Attendees at the meeting included former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah, Senate’s former chairman Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, PPP Central Punjab President Mian Manzoor Watoo, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Chaudhry Manzoor, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, MNA Faryal Talpur, Senator Sherry Rehman and Senator Taj Haider.


Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2015.