May 07, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 6: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has decided to separate the government and party offices after many of its important office-bearers became members of the federal and provincial cabinets, and a decision in this regard is expected soon.

Sources told Dawn that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had already started consultations within the party to appoint new office-bearers at the Centre as well as in the provinces, and it was expected that he would hold division-level conventions before announcing the decision.

They said after becoming ministers, the PPP office-bearers were not able to give required time to the party affairs and, therefore, Mr Zardari had made up his mind to replace them with new faces.

The PPP will have to appoint new party presidents in three provinces, Punjab, Sindh and NWFP; one senior vice-chairman, two deputy secretaries general, central information secretary and information secretary in Sindh.

PPP Punjab president Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi has become the foreign minister, Sindh president Syed Qaim Ali Shah the province’s chief minister and NWFP president Rahimdad Khan is a senior minister in the Awami National Party-led government in the NWFP.

Since Mr Qureshi’s appointment as the PPP Punjab president two years back, the post of the deputy secretary general from Punjab has been lying vacant.

The party is expected to appoint a new deputy secretary general from Sindh as well after Senator Raza Rabbani became Leader of the House in Senate.

The office of a senior vice-chairman of the party is virtually lying vacant after Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani took oath as the country’s prime minister.

Similarly, Federal Minister for Information Sherry Rehman is also PPP’s central information secretary whereas National Assembly speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza is still holding the office of the PPP Sindh information secretary.

Meanwhile, a reliable source in the party told Dawn that Mr Zardari had offered a federal minister from Sindh to quit the ministry and become the provincial president. However, the source said, the minister’s response was not positive to this offer.

PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar, when contacted, said it was true that Asif Zardari had decided in principle to separate the party and government offices but so far no progress had been made in this regard.

Mr Babar said he could not give any timeframe as to when this decision would practically be implemented.