ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto returned to the country to start PPP election campaign tomorrow.
PPP sources said that despite security threat and reservations over the way party’s affairs are being run, Bhutto decided to return home to start the campaign, but it was not clear if he would lead the campaign until the general election in prevailing circumstances.
The sources said the party had instructed its district organisations to arrange meetings in their offices to observe the 34th death anniversary of PPP founder-chairman and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto tomorrow.
There were different views among PPP leaders regarding the departure of the chairman from Pakistan before the start of campaign, but they agreed that he would return before tomorrow.
One section of the PPP says Bilawal left the country due to security concerns, but few senior leaders say he was unhappy over the running of party affairs, as he believed that PPP’s ideology was being compromised by promoting people whose loyalty is divided.
One PPP leader claimed that isolation of Bilawal from the upcoming campaign was part of a strategy because the party leadership believed they should not ruin a PPP asset by using Bilawal in the campaign, especially when PPP’s performance was too poor.
He said a few senior PPP leaders told the leadership that it was better that the chairman be spared from the campaign and the leaders who had run the government affairs for the last five years should lead the campaign.
Another annoyed PPP leader said it was better that the party should ask Rehman Malik, Asim Hussain, Hafeez Sheikh, Farooq H Naek and others to campaign because they havd occupied important executive portfolios in the last five years and were responsible for bad governance.
It was learnt that mismanagement had been witnessed in the Punjab wing of the party in resolving the dispute among workers over decisions regarding the issuance of tickets to candidates.
The sources said no regular meeting of the PPP parliamentary board in Punjab was being held to address the issue.
With the election around the corner, the Supreme Court has taken up cases against senior PPP leaders in charge of campaign across the country.
The cases include former premier Raja Pervez Ashraf’s contempt and rental power projects scam, alleged involvement of Amin Fahim in NICL scam, intra-court appeal of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani against his conviction and contempt proceedings against Rehman Malik that may be a setback for PPP.
Under the court’s pressure, FIA has issued arrest warrant against Fahim.
During the last proceeding on March 27, the court said the money trail in NICL scandal led to the bank accounts of Mahkdoom Amin Fahim and his family members.
S M Zafar, counsel for Fahim, told the bench that it was his 15th appearance in the case and requested that his views should be heard but the court rejected his plea. Then he said he always respected the courts, but his patience was running out.
PPP, meanwhile, called off a major rally to kick-start campaign in favour of smaller events.
The Taliban have threatened PPP and its secular coalition partners.
Last week, PPP said it would start campaign with a rally in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, the village housing the Bhutto family mausoleum, on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death anniversary. It holds rallies on the anniversary every year.
But a party spokesman in the nearby town of Naudero said the gathering would take place in a hall. Leaders would also hold events in other districts, he added.
Agencies
