ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has been given permission by President Asif Zardari, on behalf of the PPP’s central executive committee, to go ahead with a much-awaited, and desired, reshuffle in the federal cabinet.

There was a mixed response from among the participants of the meeting that continued till the wee hours of Tuesday. A couple of faces went pale and a number of PPP stalwarts were unable to hide their smiles.

No one knows what this reshuffle would mean for a few of the ministers whose record has been tainted with allegations of corruption, irregularities, misuse of power and incompetence.

It’s also not clear if the shake-up would mean dropping a few ministers and bringing in, as Premier Gilani described in his speech at the meeting as, ‘popular faces of the party’.

More than one members said this was by far the most exciting part of the meeting of the party’s top decision-making body, as bulk of the remaining time was spent in sycophancy, with one member after another praising the president.

Quite a few members, including some very senior ones, joined the chorus of media-bashing, with a few like Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali even endorsing a suggestion to explore possibility of imposing some kind of restrictions.

But then better sense prevailed and the suggestion was ignored with an advice to explore the existing defamation law.

The media also came under criticism from Gujrat’s Ghazanfar Gul, who even named some of the anchor persons and suggested their induction into the policy-making team.

Some members also spoke against media managers of the party for their failure to handle what they called a hostile media.

A participant even questioned performance of the party’s central information secretary, Fauzia Wahab.

The CEC had been called at a time when, following a series of blunders and setbacks, the NRO debacle being the latest, the party’s graph was rapidly going down.

At the same time, a number of surveys showed the president’s popularity was touching the lowest ebb, and no one in the party was prepared to come up with a forceful or logical defence against a series of allegations of corruption, mismanagement and misrule.

But a senior CEC member said barring a couple of voices of dissent, most participants avoided discussion on controversial issues, and rather preferred to praise President Zardari who, uncharacteristically looked somewhat subdued during the better part of the marathon session.

So, what really happened at the meeting which many pundits were hoping to indulge in self-criticism, catharsis and to evolve a futuristic policy for the party and the government?

A number of participants contacted by Dawn said the president’s trusted lieutenant and parliamentary affairs minister, Babar Awan, was chosen to set the tone for discussion.

In his nearly 30-minute sermon-like speech, which was often laced with flattery for the top man, Mr Awan’s thrust was on becoming proactive to counter what he called a vicious propaganda by the government’s opponents, including many media men.

And instead of acknowledging the government’s major lapse in handling the NRO question in parliament, his advice was that the best way to defend the party’s beneficiaries was to argue that the NAB courts’ decisions in such cases were ‘past and close transactions’.

There was only a slight murmur before a known ‘dissident’, Senator Safdar Abbasi, spoke.

He called for bringing those to task who had embarrassed the party and the government on issues ranging from judges’ restoration to the NRO issue.

Senator Abbasi said the only way to revive the old prestige of the party was by carrying out an in-depth self-assessment and bringing back stalwarts like Aitzaz Ahsan back into the party.

When Premier Gilani addressed the gathering as the second last speaker, he indirectly seconded such views by pleading Aitzaz Ahsan’s case.

His request to the CEC was to honour him by ending his suspension as he, according to Mr Gilani, had remained loyal to the party’s ideals.

Interestingly, said a participant, President Zardari, too, avoided any direct criticism of Aitzaz Ahsan or others who have defied him in the recent past.

However, he stopped short of endorsing the prime minister’s suggestion of bringing back the lawyer back to the CEC.

The president’s focus was on pressures buffeting him, especially the media campaign.

His message was that he was determined to fight till the very end and may prove wrong those who were constantly painting a doomsday scenario.

Senator Raza Rabbani did speak in the meeting, but avoided criticism of any government policy.

His main concern was only that the ordinance promulgated by the president for reinstatement of sacked employees was not being implemented in letter and spirit. 

A number of CEC members said even they were surprised that there was hardly any serious discussion on crucial issues like the post-NRO situation, or the fate of the 17th Amendment.

Neither was there any discussion about PPP’s strategy in case the PML-N adopts an aggressive posture.

But when asked why none of them spoke their mind during the CEC meeting, they parried the question with a broad smile.