Asif Zardari to shift PPP headquarters to Lahore

LAHORE: In a bid to counter the Punjab-based leadership of the Musharraf-backed Pakistan Muslim League (Q-League), the newly-appointed co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Asif Ali Zardari, has decided to shift his base from Karachi to Lahore, the capital of Punjab, and establish the PPP headquarters there.

Zardari fully realises the fact that establishing the party’s stronghold in Punjab was a must to take control of the actual power centre — Islamabad.

Therefore, party sources said, Zardari has decided to permanently shift to Lahore and make it the party’s headquarters.

This is despite the fact that Benazir and her family generally used to live in Bilawal House, Karachi. Zardari, who in the wake of Benazir’s assassination, has elevated his stature as a politician by talking of Pakistan and the unity of the federation, is reportedly waiting for the Benazir’s funeral ceremony on the 40th day of the death — February 7 — after which he will be rushing to Lahore to take on the Chaudhries of Gujrat — Shujaat and Pervez.

The PPP sources say Zardari believes with the shifting of PPP’s headquarters to Lahore, the party would further its reputation of being a symbol of the unity of the federation as had been the case during the days of elder Bhutto and Benazir.

Zardari has further decided to convert his Karachi residence — Bilawal House — which originally belonged to him and has been named after his son and presently the chairperson of the party Bilawal Bhutto, into a museum for his slain wife and father-in-law — Benazir and Zulfikar Bhutto.