PESHAWAR: Though Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari approved the names of provincial office-bearers for different wings of the party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the development caused resentment among workers and generated protests.
A party notification said that M. Aslam Adil and Baz Mohammad were elected as president and general secretary, respectively, for People’s Labour Bureau (KP) and Lal Badshah as information secretary.
It said that Dr Nisar Khan and Dr Daud Khan were elected as president and general secretary of People’s Doctors Forum (KP); Dr Fahim Khan was elected as secretary information for the forum.
Naseeb Chand and Yasir Bhatti were elected as president and general secretary of the PPP’s minority wing. Arif Masih was elected as information secretary.
Khwaja Yawar Naseer and Tahir Abbas were elected president and general secretary of People’s Cultural Wing (KP). Mansoor Zafar was elected information secretary.
For the People’s Youth Organisation (KP), Malik Amjad and Sami Khan were elected president and general secretary respectively while Hanif Khan was elected information secretary.
Rashid Afridi and Riaz Yousafzai were elected president and general secretary of the People’s Students Federation (PSF) KP. Inamullah Daudzai was elected as information secretary.
The notification also generated controversy as the former office-bearers of PYO and PSF held a meeting in Peshawar on Friday.
Headed by former PYO provincial president Ghulam Mustafa, and PSF president, Saad Waqas, the participants rejected the decision and held PPP provincial president Humayun Khan and general secretary Faisal Karim Kundi responsible for the crisis.
Former PYO president and Vice-President Ghulam Mustafa and Qari Khalid in their separate chat with The News said that they would not accept the decision. They staged a rally outside the Peshawar Press Club to protest the decision. “We will also address a press conference on Monday against the unilateral decision,” Qari Khalid said.
They urged Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to withdraw the notification and direct the provincial office-bearers as to why they allegedly preferred their handpicked people to ideological workers.
The speakers said that such decisions would further divide the party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They announced “Party Bachao Movement” from Peshawar and declared to expand the movement to other provinces too.
The PYO and PSF activists, they said, had unanimously appealed to central leadership to withdraw its decision or else they would announce parallel organisations in KP. Ghulam Mustafa and Qari Khalid said Humayun Khan and Faisal Karim Kundi recommended their blue-eyed persons for the party’s organisations.
They claimed that workers were not ready to accept such handpicked people, who have neither any role in the party nor have any support among workers.
“We have appealed to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to reopen cases against Humayun Khan, Faisal Karim Kundi, Zulqarnain, and Gohar Inqilabi and recover the money looted by them during the party’s previous government,” Qari Khalid said.
An activist observed that the office-bearers of all wings were announced excluding the lawyers wing but Mardan district was completely ignored as nobody was named as the provincial office-bearer.
The Youth and PSF presidents were elected from Peshawar but the general secretaries of PYO hailed from Tank and PSF’s general secretary comes from Swat. Three office-bearers were nominated for Cultural Wing from Peshawar.