SAHIWAL: PPP Punjab organising committee members spent two days - Thursday and Friday - in Sahiwal exploring the chances to revive the PPP in the district. Committee member Chaudhry Manzoor says party’s organisation will be restructured on the basis of party ideology, manifesto and the traditions of Bhuttoism.

The party’s new structure will be at union council, tehsil, district, divisional and provincial level.

Mr Manzoor, a former MNA from Kasur, with other four committee members, said this on Friday at the residence of former PPP MPA Zaki Chaudhry. Other members - Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Rana Farooq Saeed, Nadeem Afzal Chan and Nadeem Asghar Kaira - were also present.

He said PPP Chairman Bilalwal Bhutto-Zardari had ended the “reconciliation policy” for it had weakened the party and had caused differences among leaders.

He admitted that in the last 20 years, the PPP had conceded its political space in Punjab to other parties. He was, however, hopeful that the Bilawal factor would charm the voters.

He said that after lengthy discussions within the party, the PPP chairman invited 18 people from and outside the PPP in Dubai which decided to dissolve the existing party structure to give a try to new solutions.

He said it was a bold step by Mr Bhutto-Zardari to go for a new organisation as the PML-N and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had to halt their such moves. He said the PPP could reinvent its party structure as genuine workers wanted to be heard and party high command wanted to keep existing office bearers and other stakeholders on board.

“Now, only those performing well will hold their job,” he said, hinting at the accountability mechanism the party was going to introduce within the party.

He said the PPP chairman had dished out a questionnaire among political workers and office bearers of the PPP, civil society, academicians, professional associations and marginalized community leaders. The questions revolve around ideology, organisation, strategy and future programmes.

About Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s no to the reconciliation, he said ending reconciliation did not mean overthrowing of the system, and saving the system did not mean saving Nawaz Sharif.

He said the PPP’s policy on the Panama papers reflected party’s new policy.

He said during this mass contact campaign, the party was also tracing individuals who had expert opinion on the local health, education and agriculture problems so that the party could resolve local problems.

The PPP is also focusing on public mobilisation. The chairman held his first road show on May 31 from Islamabad to Mirpur, while on Friday PPP’s women activists held a demo in Lahore. Party’s student wing, the PSF, led Imran Dogar and Shahzad Shafi, will hold a rally in Lahore on Saturday.

The PPP Sahiwal district also held a public gathering at Zaki Chaudhry’s residence where more than 500 workers were present.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2016