JHANG, March 12: A surprise given on Feb 23 to local PPP workers who had been inactive for the last couple of years woke them from their slumber. The occasion was re-joining of party by Syeda Abida Husain.

A party convention was held at the residence of district president MPA Qazi Ali Husain at Chiniot to welcome Begum Abida, a former federal minister and ambassador.

Her re-entry has also given impetus to the mobilisation process and the electoral prospects of the party in the district in the coming general elections, still smarting from the colossal loss suffered by it by the switching over of loyalties by party stalwarts like Faisal Saleh Hayat and Nazir Sultan. Abida Husain who has twice been elected chairperson of the Jhang district council besides National Assembly several times - from two constituencies in 1985 - is fully capable of filling the vacuum created by the exit of political heavyweights, particularly Faisal, who remained a member of the central executive committee of the PPP and was very close to the party chairperson. His desertion was a serious blow to the party in Jhang district.

Having tremendous influence on the organisational setup and the workers, Faisal deprived the party of a very high percentage of them, who (the workers) in utter confusion, found it extremely difficult to decide whether to stay loyal to the party or join hands with a federal minister. At this very crucial juncture, party’s divisional coordinator Raja Riaz Ahmad, assisted by district president Qazi Ali, played a pivotal role in saving the party from total annihilation in Jhang. They went door to door to establish contacts with the workers, held meetings at the unit level to boost their morale and made changes in the office bearers, where necessary, inducted fresh blood in the party to replace their inactive predecessors and, more importantly, brought back some diehard activists who had been unnecessarily sidelined. The result of their effort was evident by the turnout at the workers convention at Chiniot, where according to a party source, leaders and workers who had abandoned active political life for more than 15 years were seen shouting slogans to make their presence felt.

Encouraged by the overwhelming response, the party was now planning to show its political might at a public rally to be staged at the district headquarters on March 30. The rally is likely to be addressed by all the top leaders, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Mustafa Khar, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Ghulam Abbas, Qasim Zia and Abida Husain.

The rally would be the climax of party’s revival in Jhang, commented Raja Riaz while talking to this correspondent.