PPP needs massive surgery for survival: Awan

KARACHI: Former federal minister and Pakistan People’s Party leader Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has said that PPP has reached near dying status so no homeopathic treatment could work for it rather the party required massive surgery for its survival.
Speaking at a press conference here at Press Club on Friday, the former federal minister said the Peoples Party for sake of its survival and continuity required “Weeklong cleansing campaign” for clearing mess in the party. The PPP leader addressed the press conference after meeting here party’s Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at Bilawal House where affairs of Peoples Party related to Punjab and that to her native town Sialkot came under discussion.
Firdous Awan said at the press conference that at present PPP had only been trying to secure and save its government in Sindh. She said that PPP’s parliamentarians belonging to Sindh should avoid doing politics of their own vested interests and instead they should do politics for the sake of party.
She said the PPP’s leaders belonging to Sindh instead of just focusing on affairs of Sindh government should also make focus on affairs of the party in general. “Why the entire (Peoples) party is being punished on the basis of shortcomings of Sindh government alone,” she asked the question at the press conference.
Dr Awan said the Peoples Party had become virtually orphaned in Punjab while the party’s Punjab chapter president Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo alone could not do anything to save the situation. She said the disenchantment had been rampant among the party’s cadres and supporters.
The former federal minister said that Peoples Party had to change its policy of doing friendly opposition with Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)’s government while it was high time to perform role of real opposition to the govt. She said that Peoples Party was not at all a subsidiary party to PML-N.
She said it was strange that Peoples Party had been playing the role of opposition and government at the same time as the Peoples Party should avoid providing support to the government as it would cause political death to PPP in the country.
She said that PML(N)’s government in Punjab had been doing persecution and oppression against its political opponents while in this regard sincere leadership of Peoples Party in Punjab was being unduly targeted and victimized. She said the PPP had to resort to protest against policy of persecution of PML-N’s government against opposition. She said that time and again leadership of Peoples Party had been informed about political situation in Punjab and urged them to adopt a coordinated policy in this regard but to no avail. She said she had come to Sindh to find a character like Muhammad Bin Qasim against oppression of PML-N in Punjab.
Dr Awan said that she had earlier tendered her resignation from her position in the party as vice-president of party’s Punjab chapter but Chairman of Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto had not accepted her resignation. The PPP leader clarified that she was not partying ways with Peoples Party.
Awan said that she had tendered resignation from the party’s position in order to give way to the party’s chairman to nominate new leadership team for the party after retiring the tested old faces.
She said that while meeting with party’s chairman she had confided to him her reservations regarding affairs of the party while Bilawal Bhutto had assured her resolution of political issues being faced by the party.
Meanwhile, Former Federal Minister and PPP leader Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan called on the Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari here at Bilawal House today and apprised him about political situation in Punjab, especially in her district Sialkot.
Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan complained that projects launched by the previous People’s government have been shelved or simply shut down without concern to the losses emanating from such anti-people decisions by the Nawaz government.