ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: Pakistan People’s Party on Monday formed a new political entity, PPP Parliamentarians, in a bid to avert the imminent threat of losing the chance for contesting election.

The new group, which vowed to continue to seek guidance from Benazir Bhutto, would be headed by Makhdoom Amin Fahim. A relatively junior PPP member, Raja Pervez Ashraf, was elected PPPP’s secretary-general.

The decision, which came like a bolt from the blue even for most of the party members, was taken at an informal meeting of some selected party leaders here at the PPP’s central secretariat after receiving an e-mail message from Dubai, party sources said.

Those of the PPP leaders who were gathered here to submit a certificate of intra-party polls to the Election Commission were unaware of the move contemplated at Dubai till it was communicated to them at 12 noon, a source said.

It is a tactical move to avoid PPP’s disqualification to contest elections on one symbol since the existing legal dispensation does not allow PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto to hold any party office.

A party member said that the PPPP would submit the certificate of intra-party elections and accounts to the Election Commission before Aug 12, the last date for submitting those details. The requirement of holding elections within the party has already been fulfilled, he added.

Though a PPP statement reiterated Ms Bhutto’s resolve to return to the country and contest the elections, the move cast a pall of doubt over her comeback in near future.

“The problem is not Benazir’s return to the country, but Gen Musharraf’s exit from politics,” Information Secretary Taj Haider told Dawn.

Another party leader who was visibly dejected over the decision, said the PPP cadres were quite mature and they would accept the decision. Requesting anonymity, he said the party would continue legal fight to alter the status quo.

A party insider said that Mian Raza Rabbani, the secretary-general, had conveyed his inability to participate in elections. Some other party leaders, including Raja Shahid Zafar, who held the production ministry’s portfolio after 1988 elections, was also not interested in contesting elections.

“The Pakistan People’s Party has formed a separate entity called the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians to meet the requirements of the new decree passed by the military dictatorship. This is being done to meet the requirements of the new decree passed 48 hours before PPP unanimously elected former premier Benazir Bhutto as head of PPP on July 28, 2002.”

The party claimed that Gen Pervez Musharraf at a corps commanders’ meeting in April had admitted that Ms Bhutto would sweep the elections and that the referendum was held to avoid asking her for presidency.

It stated that the regime had passed a number of Benazir- specific laws to prevent her from contesting the elections. Without mentioning whether she would return and when, it said “PPP and Mohtarma are determined that she will contest the forthcoming elections”.

The party alleged that since the chief justice and half of the Supreme Court were sacked, judiciary in Pakistan had been operating in a “climate of coercion and terror”.

The PPP said: “The Musharraf regime passed a second Benazir law asking all parties to register before the Election Commission in the hope that a new leadership could come up in the PPP. The PPP workers bravely resisted this move in a show of unity and solidarity unanimously re-elected key central office-bearers. The PPP was thus eligible to be registered for election purposes with Election Commission.

“The Musharraf regime passed a third law on Aug 2, after PPP concluded its elections on Aug 2. Under this law, the regime said that it would not register the PPP because of its head was a leader against whom its first absentee law was passed even if the party had under existing laws passed hurdle of the second decree ordering registration.

“The People’s Party will challenge this new law before the high court as violative of the Constitution and the Supreme Court order.

“A group of leaders met in Islamabad today to form the PPP Parliamentarians. The aim of PPP Parliamentarians is to build a progressive and democratic society in accordance with the principles, philosophies and politics of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Quaid-i-Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Quaid-i-Jamhooriyat Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto will the political guide of this new grouping although she will not hold an elective office in it.”

Under section 5 of the Political Parties Order 2002, Ms Bhutto is not eligible for holding office of any political party. The relevant section reads: “Provided that a person shall not be appointed or serve as an office-bearer of a political party if he or she is not qualified to be, or is disqualified from being elected or chosen as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) under Article 63 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan or under any other law for the time being in force.”

Ms Bhutto was convicted under section 31 of the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance twice on the charge that she had failed to appear before the accountability court, where four corruption cases are pending.