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KARACHI: In his capacity as Co-Chairman of the PPP, President Asif Ali Zardari bifurcated the party structure in Punjab on Friday apparently to meet the challenge posed by the opposition PML-N which has launched a campaign to dislodge the federal government ahead of Senate elections in March next year.
PPP leaders said the creation of the central and southern Punjab wings would enable the party to efficiently manage its organisational matters and deal with people’s issues.
The decision was taken at a meeting attended by Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa, Senator Babar Awan, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Fauzia Wahab, Rukhsana Bangash, Raja Riaz, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Chaudhry Imtiaz Safdar Warraich.
Talking to reporters outside Bilawal House, Mr Kaira, who is PPP’s information secretary, said steps would be taken to deal with the evolving political situation in central and south Punjab.
Makhdoom Shahabuddin has been appointed president of the PPP for southern Punjab. Names of other office-bearers will be announced later.
The restructuring also signalled that the party was determined to pursue its commitment to create a Seraiki province.
Mr Warraich, who was chief of the Punjab PPP, will now lead the party in the upper half of the province.
Mr Kaira said the PPP was in touch with the people and was not bothered about PML-N rallies and its other tactics.
The meeting discussed fresh moves the PML-N was likely to make and the language used by the Punjab chief minister against the president.
Mr Kaira said the PML-N was fomenting turmoil and anarchy because it feared political isolation.
He said the PPP believed that parliament was the best forum for agitating people’s grievances.
Replying to a question, he said issues related to elections would be taken up at an appropriate time.
When asked about the recent Tehrik-i-Insaaf meeting in Lahore, he said it was an attempt to mobilise people and the PPP did not consider it to be a threat.
Mr Kaira said that in a large province like Punjab it was difficult to manage party affairs from one place and there had been a longstanding demand to divide the party set-up into two zones.
He said the PPP had a similar set-up in the past and, therefore, the move should not be linked to the creation of a new province. It is just an organisational restructuring, whereas creation of a province has other dynamics.
Replying to a question about the Punjab chief minister’s speech against the president, he said the PPP could not be harmed by holding rallies. It has a long history of struggle and its leaders and workers were taken to the gallow, flogged and jailed, but dictators and rulers failed to eliminate it.
He said the PPP was an ideology and despite several attempts its enemies had failed to remove it from the scene and people’s hearts.
“People know about the PML-N’s past and how its leaders had fled the country,” he said.
The former information minister said corruption was an issue and the PPP was ready to eliminate it with the help of other political forces.
He said the accountability bill to be tabled in parliament soon was expected to be adopted by a thumping majority.
