LAHORE, Dec 7: PPP’s deep-rooted hatred towards Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar and the former Punjab governor’s hitherto unspoken opinion of the present party leadership came out in the open on Sunday, the 37th birthday of the party.
Top party leaders used all tricks to keep the much-married leader sitting on the stage away from the camera eye and the mike and the latter interrupted the provincial president’s speech by flashing unity gestures and his supporters raising derogatory slogans in chorus against the budding leader who is also opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly.
The party had organized a convention at the Minar-i-Pakistan lawns, after being refused permission to hold it at the Mochi Gate.
It was a poor show by all standards by the party which had got the highest number of votes in the last year general elections. The visible and invisible things done by the party leadership against Khar and the way the man groping for a role for himself tried to outmanoeuvre them eclipsed the significance of the day.
Observers say that the ARD, of which the PPP is the major component, will not be able to launch a strong movement against the government if the leadership did not make extra effort to mobilize the masses. “They are a bunch of hypocrites, hampering Ms Benazir Bhutto’s return to the country. I can swallow them all in a single breakfast had I no regard for Ms Bhutto and her late father”, Mr Khar said of the PPP leaders.
When Mr Khar was speaking, all PPP leaders had left the temporarily set up stage along with the workers. They had also switched off all lights and the sound system in an attempt to make it difficult for Mr Khar to use the stage to air his views.
Mr Khar, who recently met Ms Bhutto and then proposed civil-military partnership for a period of 10 years to steer the country out of crisis, said he himself would pave the way for Ms Bhutto’s return to Pakistan. Indiscipline was the hallmark of the convention. Some leader would be addressing the gathering when some other would enter the arena along with his supporters, raising slogans. This happened many a time as a result of which many speeches were drowned in slogans.
PPP chief Makhdoom Amin Faheem addressed only for a couple of minutes and that, too, when the audience were clapping or raising slogans.
He said the PPP had always resisted dictatorship and would continue the same policy in the times to come. He said the party would continue its struggle to make Ms Benazir Bhutto prime minister for a third time.
Qasim Zia said the party was united under the leadership of Ms Bhutto. He said the party leaders and workers would launch a potent movement and fill the jails when the party chairperson gave a call.
He urged the MMA leaders not to make a compromise with the government against the rights of the electorate. In case they did, he warned, the nation would never forgive them.
He had to shout louder as, during his speech, Mr Khar rose and started waving to the people. And as his supporters, who had come well prepared, responded by raising slogans, Qasim became inaudible.
The Punjab PPP president was still on his feet when Secretary-General Raja Pervaiz Asharf also started raising slogans in favour of Ms Benazir Bhutto.
Qasim said the party would celebrate the next foundation day in the company of Ms Bhutto.
His speech was followed by a long spell of applause and slogans meaning that Bhutto would be remembered eternally.
Syed Yousaf Reza Gilani bitterly criticized the Patriots, who broke ranks with the PPP to join hands with the PML-Q. These elements, he alleged, had sabotaged Ms Bhutto’s mission and stabbed the party in the back.
He said in future the party would make sure that election tickets were awarded only to loyal leaders and workers.
Predicting that the next year was the year of elections, the former NA speaker urged party leaders and workers to hoist the PPP flags on their rooftops.Slogans and whistling made Mr Jehangir Badar’s speech inaudible.When Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was speaking, the audience raised slogans against Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal, who is also chairman of the PPP-Patriots.
He said the party was united like a rock under the leadership of Ms Bhutto.
Altaf Qureshi and Munawwar Anjum moved resolutions reiterating confidence in the leadership of Ms Bhutto and calling for the withdrawal of all baseless cases against her and spouse Asif Ali Zardari.
The resolutions also committed the party to continuing its struggle against dictatorship.
Prof Ijazul Hasan, Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gul, Uzma Bukhari, Faiza Malik, Ehsan Ganjial, Sajida Mir and Sohail Malik were also among the speakers.
Mian Misbahur Rehman and Naveed Chaudhry were among the participants.