NAUDERO: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari decided on Monday to reorganise the party.

The decision was taken at the PPP central executive committee (CEC) held at Naudero House under the chairmanship of Mr Bhutto-Zardari.

Briefing journalists about the decision, former information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira and former Punjab governor Latif Khosa said reorganisation would begin at the provincial level.

The party chairman would write letters in a few days to the party cadre, intelligentsia, media and academia to have their input prior to announcing a future strategy, they said. This was a process of seeking opinion which the party chairman had adopted very much in line with the policy of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Mr Kaira said.

The CEC had expressed confidence in the leadership of Mr Bhutto-Zardari and gave him a mandate for making any decision. The party wanted to make the country progressive and liberal, he said.

In reply to a question about the Panama Papers, he termed it a serious issue and said they were published by esteemed news papers which must have printed it after necessary authentication and after having proof with them. “The denial prior to this always came when the media and we (PPP) had talked about such things,” he said.

He called Hussain Nawaz’s media talk prior to the leak an attempt to pre-empt the issue. If such things had come against the PPP, there would have been a storm in the media and NAB and courts would have become active against it.

He said the PPP wished to establish a corruption-free Pakistan and added that it seemed as if the PML-N leadership was above the law, but things about this impression would be clear in the days to come.

Mr Kaira said the PPP was striving for a tolerant society where minorities would have their rights and the PPP was the only party that stood openly against terrorists.

He said the PPP would not allow the federation to go against the 18th amendment and added that the PML-N had facilitated retired Gen Musharraf’s departure.

The meeting also paid tribute to the leadership of Z.A Bhutto, he added.

Mr Khosa said that no police officer laid hands on Gen Musharraf even after the issuance of warrants against him.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2016