ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peo­ples Party (PPP), which has announced its plan to hold a public meeting in Rawalpindi on April 4 to mark the 42nd death anniversary of its founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, has not yet invited to it other component parties of the Pakis­tan Democratic Movement (PDM) tho­ugh the party is still part of the opposition alliance.

If the PPP does not invite other PDM parties to the event, it will be the first such occasion since formation of the 10-party alliance during a multi-party conference (MPC) in Islamabad on Sept 20 last year.

Previously, the PPP had invited the PDM parties to participate in its various programmes, including the public meeting in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on 13th death anniversary of former prime minister and slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto on Dec 27 last year. Besides this, the PDM leadership had participated in the PPP-organised public meeting in Karachi to mark the Karsaz blast tragedy anniversary and its public meeting in Multan on Nov 30 last year to celebrate the party’s founding day.

When contacted, PPP secretary general Farhatullah Babar confirmed that the party had so far not extended invitation to the PDM leaders for the April 4 rally in Rawalpindi. He, however, claimed that there was a possibility that the party leadership might invite the PDM leaders to the event, the first major activity being conducted by the PPP since its refusal to support the idea of submitting en masse resignations from the assemblies at the time of starting an anti-government long march.

Earlier, party invited allies to its rallies in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, Karachi, Multan

The PPP has also convened a meeting of its Central Executive Committee (CEC) after Pindi’s public meeting to reconsider its decision of not resigning from the assemblies.

Former president Asif Zardari had already informed PDM president Maulana Fazlur Rehman about the decision of the party leadership to convene the CEC.

A spokesman for the PPP told Dawn that the final date and time of the CEC meeting had not been finalised yet and it could take place either on April 4 or 5.

The PDM suffered a major setback last week when only days after jointly contesting elections for top Senate offices, its leadership announced postponement of their March 26 long march due to differences over the issue of submitting en masse resignations from the assemblies.

Talking briefly to media after presiding over a nearly five-hour-long meeting of the heads of the component parties of the PDM, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had said that the PPP had sought more time to reconsider its position on the issue of en masse resignations and till the time the PPP would come back after an in-house discussion in its CEC, the long march stood “postponed”.

The Maulana had disclosed that nine parties were in favour of resigning from the assemblies during the long march, but only the PPP had some “reservations over this thinking”.

PPP’s Yousuf Raza Gilani had said his party had sought time after the leaders of other parties “bracketed the March 26 march with resignations”. He said since the PPP members in the previous CEC meeting had opposed the idea of resigning from the assemblies, it became necessary for them to take the matter again to the CEC.

On March 18, PDM president Maulana Fazl separately talked to Mr Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif over telephone.

During the telephonic conversation, Mr Zardari had again expressed his party’s concern over the decision of the other PDM parties to link the resignations with the long march. The former president drew the attention of the Maulana to the “plan of action” agreed in the MPC in September last year, which clearly stated that the resignations would be the last option and for this purpose, a committee would be formed.

Mr Zardari, PPP sources said, told the Maulana that the PML-N and other parties had suggested resigning from the assemblies believing that by doing so they might block the Senate elections and prevent the government from taking a majority in the upper house of parliament. However, he said, after contesting the Senate elections, the issue of resignations had become redundant.

The Maulana told Mr Zardari that the PDM component parties would wait for a final reply from the PPP after its CEC meeting, before taking any decision.

Later, the Maulana talked to Mr Sharif, who has been living in self-exile in London for more than a year, and apprised him about his conversation with Mr Zardari.

The two leaders reportedly discussed the probabilities in case the PPP decided to stick to its previous decision of not resigning from the assemblies and agreed that the PDM would continue its struggle against the government and go ahead with its plan, even if the PPP decided to formally part ways with the alliance. They agreed to convene another meeting of the heads of the PDM parties soon after the PPP’s CEC meeting to discuss the future strategy.

The sources said the Maulana was unhappy over the proceedings of the PDM meeting in which the PPP and the PML-N, two arch-rivals of the past, once again made personal attacks against each other.

The PPP and the PML-N also have differences over the issue of appointment of opposition leader in the Sen­ate. The PML-N has already nominated newly-elected senator Azam Nazeer Tarar as its candidate for the opposition leader’s slot whereas the PPP has rejected his nomination for being a lawyer for the accused police officials in the Benazir Bhutto murder case. Mor­e­over, the PPP claims that being the single largest party on the opposition benches in the Senate, it has the right to claim the opposition leader’s office.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2021