Old loyalists: differences within PPP become more visible
The cracks have now become more visible within Pakistan People's Party (PPP) after the party leadership decided to publicly and legally take on former home minister Zulfiqar Mirza and his spouse Dr Fehmida Mirza, former Speaker National Assembly.
Sources within the party revealed that the PPP workers especially in Sindh are not happy with the leadership's policy to sideline old loyalists of slain chairperson Benazir Bhutto. They said that grass root members of the party have accused their leadership of ignoring them during the five-year tenure of the PPP-led coalition government. They maintain that because of these policies many old and committed workers have left the party and joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
The sources said that old loyalist Safdar Abbasi, who has launched a new "Peoples Party Worker (PPP-W) and registered it with Election Commission of Pakistan on Friday (May 8, 2015) has begun contacting other disgruntled PPP leaders including Babar Awan and Dr Israr Shah to join him.
Earlier this week, the PPP issued a show-cause notice to Fehmida Mirza for violating party rules after she addressed a press conference in favour of her spouse, Zulfiqar Mirza, in which she lashed out at the PPP leadership. Dr Zulfiqar Mirza has been publicly accusing Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari of criminal activity and corruption.
Dr Fehmida Mirza has rejected the show-cause notice arguing that the PPP is her party and people of Badin have elected her family (spouse Zulfiqar Mirza and son Hasnain Mirza) as representatives of the PPP. PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the party was aware of Abbasi's move and his recent contacts with former home minister Sindh Zulfiqar Mirza.
"We know some of our opponents are gathering, but we have decided not to react to them. Let us see how it goes," he said. Senior Vice President of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Sherry Rehman said that show-cause notices have been issued to Dr Fahmida Mirza and her son asking them to clarify their position on the issue of Zulfiqar Mirza.
PPP leader Naveed Chaudhry while talking to Business Recorder said that there are no differences within the party. He maintained that the PPP is as popular today as it was in the past. He said that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari are following the legacy and vision of Benazir Bhutto and founder of party Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. He said that the party workers better understand that their leadership is following the ideology of Benazir Bhutto. He said that many leaders like Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Mumtaz Bhutto and others also formed their own parties but they lost their credibility and popularity after leaving the PPP.