KARACHI: Mr. Z.A. Bhutto, Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, yesterday [Feb 17] reiterated that if a “viable” Constitution is to be framed for the country “all of us must have a hand in that”. He told a Press Conference at the party’s central office in Karachi that “under the present circumstances” it was pointless for the People’s Party to attend the ensuing National Assembly session beginning at Dacca from March 3. He said that the PPP’s MNAs-elect could not undertake the journey to Dacca merely to endorse a Constitution in the making of which they do not have their say.

… Mr. Bhutto said that … the Awami League says that they could not compromise on its six-point programme and that it was a “final word and last position”. He said [the PPP] had gone to the precipice beyond which there was a fall.

[Meanwhile, as reported by agency in Karachi] Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti … [said that] the recent move of ... Mr. Z.A. Bhutto, was calculated to separate the two wings of the country [adding that] this may be “big power politics”. …[He] said the PPP chief feels that if he cannot be the Prime Minister of Pakistan he should be the “Prime Minister of West Pakistan”.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2021