PESHAWAR: Internal wrangling within the Pakistan Peoples Party, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has intensified to the extent that most of its cabinet members have stopped cooperating with the provincial president and are making efforts for his early replacement.

Reliable sources within the party told Dawn that the disgruntled leaders were holding the provincial president, Senator Khanzada Khan, responsible for the party’s dismal performance in the recent local government elections and were hopeful that the party high-ups would replace him in the near future.

They said that the provincial cabinet members had made up mind to resign to record their protest against the attitude of the provincial president. They said that the members believed that Mr Khanzada was unable to run the party affairs successfully while he was also not allowing the rest of leaders to reorganise it.

A party insider said that the provincial level office-bearers held a meeting at the residence of Liaquat Shabab in Nowshera on Friday and agreed to present their resignations to the provincial president, probably on Saturday (today) in Mardan.

Cabinet members stop cooperating with party’s provincial president

“After he (Khanzada) managed to become senator he stopped working for the party which lost the LG elections. He, in fact, has tarnished the image of the entire party cabinet,” the source said and added that the office-bearers were morally bound to resign over the defeat in LG elections.

“For the time being, resignation is the only option with us,” the source said.

Mr Khanzada had replaced Anwar Saifullah Khan in Nov 2013 as provincial president and he was given the agenda to reorganise the party by activating the disgruntled workers and removing internal differences. The source said that since then the provincial president did nothing for the welfare of party. During his tenure the party lost its past position which can easily be judged from the results of the May 30 LG elections.

“Instead of reorganising the party he removed many of the office-bearers without looking for their substitutes in various districts. As a result, the senior party leaders stopped working for the party and the candidates in the LG elections faced a crushing defeat,” the source said.

The source revealed that leg pulling in the party was at peak and a new group of some influential people comprising former MNAs from KP and Fata had managed to establish cordial relations with the central leadership through MNA Faryal Talpur and Senator Sherry Rehman and were trying to get the key seats.

Prominent among the influential people, the source said, included Noor Alam Khan of Peshawar, Faisal Karim Kundi of Dera Ismail Khan and Akhunzada Chattan of Bajaur Agency. He said that that these party people were posing themselves to be young and suitable persons to compete other parties, especially Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

This scribe tried to get the version of Mr Khanzada on issues related to the party, but he avoided attending phone calls. However, when contacted PPP secretary information Liaquat Shabab said that every office-bearer should fulfil the responsibilities with honesty. He admitted that the last over two years of PTI-led rule in the province was a good opportunity for the PPP to work hard and ensure access to its annoyed workers, but it failed to do so. He said that the Awami National Party, meanwhile, managed to stage a comeback in several districts in the recent LG elections.

Mr Shabab said that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would soon start visiting different provinces to hold meetings with senior leaders and devise a strategy for strengthening the party. However, he said that Bilawal Bhutto might avoid attending public meetings owing to security reasons.

In a related development, some disgruntled leaders also held a meeting in Peshawar and decided to seek time from Bilawal Bhutto to apprise him of the party’s internal situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“Yes, we have held a meeting and will try to hold a meeting with the party chairman in the best interest of the party,” Syed Ayub Shah told Dawn on Friday.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2015

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