World | Pakistan
Nawaz party finds surprise ally among its ranks
The Shahbaz Sharif led PML-N government in Punjab found a surprise ally in its ranks when estranged PPP leader Naheed Khan and husband Safdar Abbasi accused PPP governor Salman Taseer of 'destabilising' the provincial government and flouting the constitution.
- By Danish Rizwan, Correspondent
- Published: 23:35 January 5, 2009
Lahore: The Shahbaz Sharif led PML-N government in Punjab found a surprise ally in its ranks when estranged PPP leader Naheed Khan and husband Safdar Abbasi accused PPP governor Salman Taseer of 'destabilising' the provincial government and flouting the constitution.
Khan and Abbasi, who were very closely associated with the late chairperson Benazir Bhutto, are currently out of favour from PPP co-chairman and Pakistan President Asif Zardari.
After a protracted one-year silence, the couple is currently touring the city to rally support from what experts call a large section of the party that does not support or approve of the way the party and the federal government is being run, notable dissidents also include lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan.
Swipe
Taking a swipe at President Zardari, Khan said that the silent majority of the party workers will have to mobilise themselves for the welfare of the party and to uncover the faces of Bhutto's killers. Khan said that no one could expel them (Abbasi and Khan) from the party as they were voicing the concerns of the workers.
However, the PPP office-bearers and leaders associated with the current party establishment are not mere spectators.
PPP's senior minister in Punjab, in an obvious inference to Naheed and Abbasi, said in Lahore on Sunday that the government would investigate who advised Bhutto to come out of her vehicle on December 27.
Both Naheed and Abbasi were in Bhutto's vehicle at the time of murder. Khan, a former political secretary to Bhutto and senator Abbasi are leading the calls from within the party to investigate into her murder.
Also on Sunday, Ahsan during an interview demanded an immediate probe into the assassination.
Unpopular
Khan said that after less than a year after the elections, the party was becoming unpopular due to policies adopted by the leadership. She said that the party was not satisfied with the investigations of Scotland Yard and the government must conduct a UN probe into the murder. She said that the workers could not wait longer for the UN investigations which were promised by Zardari soon after his wife's murder.
She said that the Punjab Governor was acting on advice from the top to destabilise the Punjab government. She said that the PML-N mandate in Punjab must be respected.
Political unrest
Leading political analyst and commentator Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi said that after neutralising stalwart Makhdoom Ameen Fahim, political unrest was the second real challenge coming from within.
"The PPP leadership will have to act swiftly to douse the fires within. At the moment power seems to be the only binding factor for the party. The moment power goes, the party is in serious danger of splitting at the seams," said Rizvi who teaches at George Washington University in Washington DC.
"If the conflicts are not managed quickly, the dispensation will have a serious danger of falling flat," said Rizvi.
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