LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) says though it wishes to make the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) part of the proposed new ‘Charter of Democracy’, the party doubts the latter will support the cause.

“Bilawal Bhutto in his meeting with Nawaz Sharif last week had talked on extending the Charter of Democracy.

The PPP is ready to include new points in the third most important national document in the changing political scenario.

We’ll approach other political parties for their input for the Charter and will like to make the PTI its part too.

“But those who don’t feel like understanding the Charter and are campaigning against it by declaring it a ‘muk muka’ on corruption cannot be expected to side with the cause,” says Punjab PPP president Qamar Zaman Kaira speaking at a ceremony here on Saturday.

He wondered that the national document that carried support of majority classes, emphasised on reign of the Constitution, rule of law and stability of democracy, is as painful to Imran Khan, who calls himself an elected prime minister, as it was to Gen Musharraf.

Lamenting that Imran Khan was declaring the Charter of Democracy a document for (protecting) corruption, he believed that the prime minister would never have gone through the CoD as there was not a single point in it that could benefit the PPP or PML-N (alone).

He said other major political parties had also been taken on board about the CoD, but as Imran Khan’s party was a non-entity at that time (2006) so it was not included in the process then.

Responding to a query, he said the Kargil Commission, one of the seven points in the CoD that remained unfulfilled, could not be formed for the sake of national integrity.

However, he added, if all political parties agreed on it, the commission might be formed to set the record straight.

Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has appointed the following office-bearers of central Punjab chapter of the party with immediate effect:

Khawaja Awais Mushtaq has been appointed vice-president of Central Punjab, Chaudhry Saeed Iqbal president of Faisalabad division, Samia Naz advocate as information secretary, Ejaz Chaudhry as president of Faisalabad district, Shah Jahan as general secretary, Intizar Ahmed as vice-president of Sialkot district, Chaudhry Azhar as president, Shahbaz Khan as general secretary.

Similarly, Dr Javed Iqbal Qamar has been appointed general secretary of Doctors Forum, Inayat Ali Shah as Peoples Kissan Wing president and Nasir Javed Ghuman its general secretary.

Nazar Hussain Shah will be president of People’s Labour Bureau, while Tayyab Chattha will be president of Sports Wing, Sabir Kasuri its general secretary and Altaf Hussain Qureshi president of Study Circle and Raja Israr Abbasi its general secretary.

Notifications in this regard have been issued by the party office.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2019

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