LAHORE - It was at a closed door party meeting at Bilawal House, Lahore the other day that PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari came to know about the rivalry between party’s secretary general Sardar Latif Khan Khosa and Senator Rehman Malik, a government official-turned politician.
As per an eye witness account, a few PPP men were chit-chatting about party matters when Sardar Khosa took the opportunity to settle scores with Mr Malik, though in a lighter vein. It was after a long time that the politician from DG Khan had the ear of his party chief.
“He often issues inapt statements on sensitive matters. It is because he lacks political understanding,” Khosa told Zardari, suggesting thereby that he was not fit for the political role he had been assigned ignoring senior party men.
“Khosa Sahib, you seem to be in a competition with Mr Malik to become the next interior minister,” Zardari said jokingly.  “There is no such thing sir. In fact, he is also my client and I am in good terms with him,” Khosa replied with a smile on his face which he always keeps during a conversation. 
It was now Sherry Rehman’s turn to give her assessment of the man who also shares part of her name. She is back in Zardari’s close circles again after few years of isolation. 
 “Well, I think, he is not interested in interior ministry any more. He is over ambitious, sir,” she commented.
Encouraged by Sherry’s remarks, Khosa added: “Sir, he is a presidential candidate now”. Zardari gave a smile, and then in all seriousness he turned to other issues.  It was like it all just went in one year and out the other.
Rehman Malik, who belongs to Sialkot but became Senator from Sindh quota of seats, has earned the jealously of many senior PPP leaders for being too close to his boss. He enjoys the trust and confidence of Mr Zardari more than any body else in the party. Though not a politician, he is seen more active in political matters. Latif Khosa is party’s secretary general, but he has a very limited role in party politics. It is always Rehman Malik who is asked to meet MQM chief Altaf Hussain to avert some political development.
Malik’s role in the ongoing political crisis became conspicuous when he had frequent meetings with PAT leader Dr Tahirul Qadri and JI chief Sirajul Haq on behalf of Asif Ali Zardari. He is also the one who accompanies the party chief to meet Sharifs at their Raiwind residence.
PPP TO GIVE TIMEFRAME FOR
NEXT ELECTIONS
Apparently in an attempt to charge the dormant party cadres, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari announced that his party would set the pace for next general elections.
“I would let you know the time frame of forthcoming elections”, Zardari told the party office-bearers from Faisalabad who called on him at Bilawal House here on Thursday.
The PPP leader would see an ‘unprecedented electoral victory’ in the coming elections as he believed it would emerge as the biggest party in the polls. 
Zardari observed that earlier it was not the season for politics and therefore he did not come to Lahore. “Now is the time to do politicking and I am here among you”, he remarked.
The PPP co-chairman also told the party men that he had decided to resurrect Bilawal House Lahore on the pattern of Bilawal House Karachi to serve as the working headquarters of the party for all the times.
Commenting on the current political situation, Zardari said that PTI chairman Imran’s apparent rise to the political horizon was like a water bubble in the Pakistani politics.  “It is because he is not standing on his own feet. He is dependent for support on other powers”, he said.
Zardari said he was enjoying the fight between the PTI and the PML-N. “You should also enjoy it like I am doing”, he asked the party office-bearers.
Without naming former chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Mr. Zardari said that ‘Dajjal’ held back the efficiency of the PPP government by issuing excessive stay orders on important initiatives.
He recalled that during the PPP government, the country’s textile exports rose to 14 billion dollars from 9 billion dollars in the beginning.  “The propitious policies of then government brought prosperity for both the farmers and the industrialists as a result. The increase in the price of cotton crop had also led another good source of income for the rural economy”, he claimed. 
Zardari said there was no political prisoner during the PPP government because his party had buried the politics of victimisation for all times to come. ‘Democracy is the best revenge’ is the stated policy of the party, he maintained, adding that he spent 11 years in jail but never compromised on principles.
He mentioned that Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was also offered to compromise but he refused to avail such offers for the sake of democracy and the poor people, and instead opted for sacrificing his life because he did not want to die in history. He maintained that he was accountable for the blood of martyrs shed for the cause of democracy on the Day of Judgment and therefore he could not afford to compromise on democracy and rights of the poor people.
He further said that the party and he had to think to provide such a large population of “300 million” people the facilities of health and education besides creating job opportunities. He added that the PPP represented the poor segments of the society and therefore it had to take steps to control price hike which had been squeezing them dry.