KARACHI, Dec 29: Amid rapidly changing political situation in the country, the Pakistan Peoples Party has called off its Central Executive Committee’s meeting which was scheduled for January 2 and criticized privatization of Habib Bank.

No reason has been cited for the postponement of the CEC in the PPP press release, issued here on Monday, which attributed the decision to the party’s secretary general, Jehangir Badar.

It is learnt that the PPP would use Jan 5, birthday of the PPP founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, to give vent to its feelings on the passage of the 17th Constitutional Amendment Bill with the support of the MMA.

Meanwhile, Sindh PPP President Nisar Khuhro also opposed the government’s plan to privatize the Habib Bank saying that privatization process had failed the world over.

In a statement, shared by other party leaders, Mr Khuhro observed that the countries perusing the IMF’s policies were trapped in the marsh of financial crisis.

“It is surprising that the irrational decision is made to hand over to foreigners the country’s most profitable bank which has a status of the backbone of national financial system,” the PPP leaders said.

They feared that the process would lead to corruption, tax evasion and retrenchment.

The leaders stressed the importance of public-private cooperation in taking the country out of the woods. They alleged that instead of protecting national interests, the present government was protecting interests of international donors.

Nisar Khuhro also declared that Jan 5 celebrations would be held as per schedule in every district.

He said that Z. A. Bhutto had emancipated the downtrodden from the clutches of dictatorship and his followers would not disappoint the people of Pakistan. He pledged to continue the struggle for the supremacy of rule of law inside and outside the parliament.

He regretted that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had entered into a deal with the government on the LFO. He declared that the ARD and PPP would continue the struggle despite that agreement.

He declared that PPP on its own, and as part of the ARD, would not shy away from playing its role of a real opposition because after negotiating a deal on LFO with the government, the MMA had lost its claim to be the opposition party.

“When the Constitution does not permit even the Supreme Court to amend the Constitution, how can we allow an individual to do whatever he wants to satisfy his ego?” said Mr Khuhro.