KARACHI: Amid political challenges, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Monday stressed the need of a new Charter of Democracy (CoD) as well as the Charter of Economy between all political stakeholders in the country.

Speaking at a press conference here, PPP-Sindh president Senator Nisar Khuhro invited all political parties to play their role in formulation of the two new charters before the upcoming general elections for strengthening democracy in the country.

He said that the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had signed the CoD in 2006 and now it’s time for all parties to sign the document collectively.

“It’s high time for every political party to agree on a common ground. Current economic challenges also demand that the parties sign a Charter of Economy before the polls so that the new government gets smooth ground for economic turnaround,” he said.

However, he made it clear that the call for signing of the two charters did not mean that parties were going for any electoral alliance. The parties were free to contest the polls on their agenda with their allies and against their rivals, he said.

“Secondly, we are always open to dialogue with all other parties as democratic politics always thrives on dialogues,” he replied to a query. “So despite all rivalries and ideological differences, we are open to dialogue with [other] parties. That’s the reason of setting up committees in each province by former president Asif Zardari.”

Accompanied by PPP-Sindh general secretary Senator Waqar Mehdi and others, Mr Khuhro sounded unsure that any party could get a clear majority in the 2024 polls.

When asked about rumours of a rift between Mr Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, he ruled out any split between them.

“More than half of the country’s population are youngsters and the PPP chairman in fact called for their active role in politics,” he said. “Politics is a blend of experienced leaders and young blood. So the leadership of the PPP and its workers stand with the party not with particular class or age group. This isn’t even a subject of debate within the party.”

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2023