ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Peoples Party leadership is perturbed over differences between members of Sindh and Punjab chapters of the party, as the latter is annoyed over explicit support for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the current political stalemate.
The PPP stalwarts in order to bridge the gulf have started adopting cautious approach in their public statements, saying they are trying to establish their love for continuation of democratic system and not for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“To quash widening gap between party chapters, the saner elements in PPP have decided to adopt middle way and avoid support to the government,” a PPP senior member shared with The Nation.
In order to remove label of supporting Prime Minister Sharif openly, the PPP sources said the party’s senior members promptly reacted over the government’s decision to arrest workers of Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI). They also advised the ruling clique to differentiate between political victimisation and accountability and urged the government to release all political prisoners.
“There was no political prisoner in PPP’s era...There is a thin line between political victimisation and accountability and the government should understand this difference,” said Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, PPP’s vice chairman and former PM, when the government opted to arrest PTI and PAT workers.
The PPP bigwigs from Punjab had also cautioned top PPP leadership in party’s meeting in Sindh to avoid supporting this government fully, as it could create bad consequences for the party in Punjab in future elections.
Sources said that PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to Jati Umra, Lahore, last month became the first reason for Punjab workers to get annoyed over the leadership’s soft corner for archrival PML-N. Earlier PPP Punjab members were a bit happy over Zardari’s remarks, ostensibly in favour of PTI, when Zardari had said heaven would not fall down if the demand of recounting was accepted.
Sources said that Zardari had also held an important meeting with Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah to discuss the issue of support to PML-N in current political standoff.
When contacted, PPP leader from Punjab Latif Khosa said that his party was planning to reorganise PPP in Punjab. “PPP workers have love for continuation of democratic system in the country...Democracy should prevail as rest of the matters are of secondary importance,” he said.
Earlier, Opposition Leader in Senate Aitzaz Ahsan had also expressed in the joint sitting of the parliament that the PPP members were receiving annoying messages from party workers for supporting the PML-N.