ISLAMABAD: Hours after Senate chairman Raza Rabbani delivered an anti-US speech at the Speakers Conference of six countries in Islamabad on Sunday, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) distanced itself from his remarks, declaring them his personal viewpoint.

“Senator Raza Rabbani has resigned from the office of the deputy secretary general of the PPP upon his election and taking over as chairman of the Senate of Pakistan. All the statements of Raza Rabbani are in his individual capacity and may be considered as his own,” says a brief statement issued by the Media Cell of Bilawal House in Karachi.

When contacted, the head of Bilawal House Media Centre Surrendar Velaci simply said that he had issued the statement after receiving “a directive from the party leadership”. He failed to give any reason for issuing the statement, saying that he did not know as to on which part of Mr Rabbani’s speech, the leadership had taken this immediate action.

Similarly, when contacted, PPP’s secretary general and the official spokesman for the party chairman Farhatullah Babar said that he was also unaware of the reason behind this move. He, however, explained that whenever the political parties made some comments about the other countries or on foreign policy issues, they used diplomatic and soft language.

“An individual can use a harsh language or choose words of his own choice, but the parties remain careful in their language while commenting on foreign policy issues,” the PPP leader said. He, however, said that he did not see any “specific reason” for the party leadership’s decision of disowning Mr Rabbani’s remarks.

Downplaying the incident, Mr Babar said that such things happened in political parties and it was not for the first time that the PPP had distanced itself from statements made by any party leader or member. He reminded that once the party leadership had distanced itself from a speech which he had made on the floor of the Senate.

Speaking at the conference, the Senate chairman in his reference to the recent remarks on Pakistan by US Vice President Mike Pence, had stated that Pakistan was a sovereign country and it was not in the habit of “taking notices” from anyone.

Mr Rabbani had said the US was trying to shift the blame for its defeat in Afghanistan on to Pakistan “and it consistently refuses to recognise the sacrifices of the people of Pakistan in the war on terror.” He alleged that the US was bringing about instability in Muslim countries, particularly in the Middle East. He had further stated that a new coalition between the US, Israel and India was in the making and Washington was trying to use or build up India as a policeman of the region.

Political experts were surprised to see the statement issued from Bilawal House as this was not for the first time that Mr Rabbani had delivered an anti-US speech. In the past too, on a number of occasions and while presiding over the Senate proceedings, he had harshly criticised the US policies towards Pakistan and Islamic countries.

CEC meeting

Meanwhile, PPP chairman Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari “summoned” a meeting of the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) at Naudero House in Larkana on Tuesday on the eve of 10th death anniversary of former party chairperson Benazir Bhutto to be observed on Wednesday.

Mr Babar said though the main purpose of holding CEC meetings on the occasions of birth and death anniversaries of the party leaders was to pay homage to them, the members were allowed to speak on national issues.

He said the party leaders in the CEC meeting would “discuss in threadbare the overall current political situation in the country”.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2017