PESHAWAR: The function held here on Thursday on the maiden visit of Pakistan People’s Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to Peshawar was disturbed by the ‘uncontrolled’ workers of the party.

Mr Bilawal was accompanied by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Senator Sherry Rehman, PPP provincial president Khanzada Khan and provincial general secretary Eng Humayun Khan. He was supposed to talk to media at 3pm.

However, instead of Bilawal, Ms Rahman and Syed Qaim Ali Shah spoke to the party workers and journalists. They also confined their talks only to the losses of lives and properties caused by the Oct 26 earthquake in the province.

“We visited Lady Reading Hospital and enquired after the health of the wounded people. The purpose of PPP team, led by Bilawal Bhutto, is to express solidarity and sympathies with the affected families,” Ms Rehman said, adding that politics would not be discussed on the occasion.

She said that time for politics would come soon to steer the country out of the crises and resolve the problems being faced by the people. She said that two containers of relief goods were dispatched by Sindh government on Friday for the people, affected by the earthquake.

Instead of PPP chief, Sherry Rehman and Qaim Ali Shah talk to media, party activists

Ms Rehman said that Sindh chief minister accompanied Mr Bilawal as he wanted to announce a relief package for the affected people. However, Mr Shah avoided giving details in this regard and said that his government and Sindh PPP would arrange relief goods as per instructions of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of the party.

Following repeated demands by the party workers and journalists, Mr Bilawal came out of a room and the workers started making selfies (photos) with him. It was his first-ever visit to the province and both media and PPP workers waited anxiously for him but a group of hardly 30 workers managed to surround him.

Most of the people had already left the venue when Ms Rehman announced that Mr Bilawal would come to his seat only for offering prayers for the people killed by the earthquake as there would be no media talks.

Some of the participants of the function started blaming few PPP leaders for disturbing the function. However, the party office-bearers avoided issuing a statement about the disturbance.

It merits a mention here that members of the PPP annoyed group including former governor Barrister Masood Kausar, Saeed Ahmed Khan, Syed Ayub Shah and Khwaja Yawar Naseer were also present on the occasion.

“We participated in the function after assurance by the party provincial president and his team that intra-party elections will be held in the province. Our demand to withdraw proposal of online membership drive has also been accepted,” PPP former provincial secretary information Khwaja Yawar Naseer told journalists.

On the other hand, some workers of People’s Students Federation and People’s Youth Organisation, who were not allowed to participate in the function, held protest demonstration on the busy thoroughfare Khyber Road and blocked it to vehicular traffic for some time.

The protesters chanted slogans against the provincial leadership of the party and demanded replacement of the provincial office-bearers of PPP.

Mr Bilawal went from the airport to Lady Reading Hospital, which caused inconvenience to the motorists for some time due to tight security. The PPP chief had his own security arrangements and many of the journalists had to take special permission from local leadership of the party to attend the function as their names were missing from the participants’ list.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2015

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