LAHORE, July 1: PPP Senior Vice-Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction over the three-month performance of the PPP-led coalition, saying people were committing suicides but those at the helm were doing nothing to solve their problems.

Talking to this correspondent, he said the situation would have been quite different if Benazir Bhutto had been alive, as she knew problems of people belonging to all walks of life and had the capability and commitment to solve them.

He regretted the situation in two provinces had deteriorated to an extent that the government's writ was nowhere to be seen and people were being killed in the ongoing operation.

Disappointed with the prevailing situation, the senior PPP leader said he would not like to suggest any remedial measure as the people now calling the shots were the ones who had been living out of Pakistan for the past eight years and had just no idea about the ground realities in the country.

These people faced a number of charges and had played no role in the party matters, said the senior PPP leader without naming anyone but leaving no doubt who he was referring to.

"I don't know who should one talk to".

Asked why he had to say that senior leaders had been sidelined and those who had played no role in the struggle for democracy for the past eight years had been given the key positions, Mr Fahim said those who had spent some four decades with the party and offered all kinds of sacrifices in various situations had been ignored by the new leadership.

"Now such leaders have landed in key positions as are facing several charges; who remained out of the country during the past eight years, playing no role in the party".

Citing his own example, he said he had been with the party for some 40 years but had been sidelined. Similarly, those who had laid down their lives for the party had also been ignored.

Mr Fahim said some people were expressing their grievances through the media because they were feeling disappointed. However, he said there were many others who shared the same views but were keeping silent. Such a reaction, he said, was also understandable as there were many who would give their lives for the party but would not say a word of complaint.

Answering another question, he said the PPP was losing its popularity because of its inability to address people's problems, but other parties in the setup were growing in popular support.

He criticized the priorities set by the new leadership. "Would the constitutional package or the reinstatement of deposed judges bring down the skyrocketing prices? Will the electricity and gas tariff be reduced if the deposed judges are brought back to work?"

"I don't think this is common man's problem", he said of the demand for the restoration of judges sacked by President Musharraf on Nov 3.

He did not say anything about his future course of action, but made it clear that he would never like a split in the PPP.

Replying to another question, he said he had allowed his son Jamiluzzaman, a minister in the Sindh cabinet, to chalk out his line of action independently.

He recalled that after the 2002 elections, President Musharraf wanted to make his son chief minister of Sindh provided he left the party. But, he said, since his son did not like to part ways with the PPP, the offer was rejected.