Disgruntled PPP group to contest local gov polls

PESHAWAR: The disgruntled PPP activists have rejected the tripartite alliance for the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and announced they would field own candidates on each seat if the party’s central leadership didn’t take effective steps to accept their demands.

Some senior PPP activists told Dawn on Saturday that Co-chairman Asif Zardari called unhappy leaders for a meeting recently to know about their reservations about party policies.

They said the co-chairman gave a patient hearing to disgruntled leaders, promised to address their grievances and accommodate their suggestions, and formed a committee on local government elections in the province.

“Zardari sahib seemed very disappointed with the performance of the current party cabinet in the province and stressed the need for re-organisation of the party at all costs before local government elections,” said a PPP activist in the know.

He said noted among the delegates were Abdul Akbar Khan, Syed Ayub Shah, Saeed Ahmed Khan, Khwaja Yawar Naseer and Tariq Khattak.

The PPP activist said Azam Afridi, a former district Peshawar nazim, was named member of the committee. He, however, quit the committee on the very next day over disagreement with the party’s provincial leadership on the election alliance with the ANP.

Some other party leaders, including provincial president Senator Khanzada Khan, former provincial president Anwar Saifullah Khan, Zahir Ali Shah, Rahim Dad Khan, former MNA Najamuddin Khan, Asma Alamgir and provincial President of women wing MPA Nighat Orakzai, are also members of the committee on local government elections.

The committee is tasked with supervising the process of selecting candidates and submitting report to the party’s leadership.

“We have a very clear opinion that the central leadership should take steps for PPP re-organisation by holding intra-party elections to resolve internal issues otherwise in the prevailing situation, the party will remain divided,” said another party senior leader Syed Ayub Shah.

Appreciating Asif Zardari for inviting the party’s unhappy people and giving them a chance to hear their grievances, Shah said the leadership should fulfil its commitments regarding intra-party elections.

He said alliance with the ANP would be dangerous for the party as during the previous coalition provincial government, the former totally ignored PPP workers and served own interests only.

“We are waiting for a positive response from the central leadership to our suggestions. The leadership has already tasked Raja Pervez Ashraf and Sherry Rehman with resolving the party’s internal issues,” he said.

Shah said the two-member committee would meet the party people at a University Town rest house as unhappy workers were not ready to visit houses of any of sitting office-bearers in the prevailing situation.

He said the annoyed party activists were loyal to the party and that they would separately observe the death anniversary of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and had organised an event for it on April 4 at Nishtar Hall of Peshawar.

“We would not sit with the party’s provincial office-bearers,” he said.

When contacted, PPP provincial general secretary Mohammad Humayun Khan said the decision to form tripartite alliance with the ANP and JUI-F was taken in consultation with the party’s central leadership and that anyone opposed to it couldn’t be sincere with the party.

“Difference of opinion for the party’s welfare will always be welcome. The PPP is known for listening to the opinion of workers, especially disgruntled ones, but those who are bent on destroying the party will have to abandon their tactics,” he said.

Humayun Khan said the nominations to key seats in the party was not a new thing and that all senior people were well aware of the process but raising the point of intra-party elections at the moment was beyond comprehension.

He said the committee on local body elections would contact everyone in the party for the formation of interim cabinet consisting of five men from both the incumbent side and the disgruntled one to resolve issues.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2015