Pakistan Peoples Party is on the verge of a major split as some top leaders of the party, who were once close to Benazir Bhutto are about to launch their own faction
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party is on the verge of a major split as some top leaders of the party, who were once close to Benazir Bhutto are about to launch their own faction of the party, the PPP Benazir Bhutto Group (PPP-BB).
According to PPP sources, the “autocratic” attitude of Asif Zardari, the co-chairman of the PPP, has compelled the party’s many senior leaders, including senior vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Faheem and Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, to abandon it because they believe it has been reduced to Pakistan Zardari Party.
The disgruntled leaders are of the view that the PPP is being run by Zardari as a one-man show and he does not consult other party leaders while taking major decisions.
As things stand, almost the entire senior leadership of the party has been pushed to the wall and none of them is being taken into confidence during decision-making. These developments eventually forced the senior vice chairman of the PPP, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, to spit his venom against Zardari at a press conference the other day.
A visibly angry Fahim said at a press conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday: “A clear line has been drawn in the PPP that segregates the old guard from the new. The PPP is being run by new leaders, most of whom had been abroad while the old guard was busy confronting the onslaught of the Musharraf regime. I want to make it clear that have nothing to do with the present PPP government. Those running the government belong to Pakistan Zardari Party while we are the custodians of Benazir Bhutto’s PPP which is a party of the poor who had voted it to power”.
On the other hand, talking to the media people in Lahore on Thursday, a central PPP leader and President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, took strong exception to Asif Zardari’s criticism of the lawyers’ movement and his statement that the PPP was not mandated to restore judges is far from true. He was of the view that Zardari was damaging the PPP and lowering his own credibility by following dual-faced policy to keep Musharraf in and the judges out.
In the words of Ghulam Mustafa Khar, a senior PPP leader and a former Governor of Punjab, “While Zardari and company may be able to stay in power and multiply their wealth, these material gains would be at the cost of losing respect and confidence of the people. Once Zardari loses the trust of the people he will never be able to regain it and he will regret this loss for the rest of his life.”
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