PPP ideological workers to protest distribution of tickets

By Syed Bukhar Shah
June 20, 2018

PESHAWAR: The ideological workers of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the candidates, who were denied party tickets, have decided to convene a grand meeting to protest the distribution of tickets among capitalists, industrialists and members of the parliamentary board.

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The sources said the dissidents approached senior party leaders, including Syed Ayub Shah, Saeed Ahmad Khan, Azam Afridi, Tahir Abbas, Yawar Naseer, who also agreed to convene and lead "the struggle against the corrupt, opportunist and National Accountability Bureau (NAB)-tainted elements within the party."

When approached, senior PPP leader Saeed Ahmad Khan said: "There is unrest among the workers. The members of the parliamentary board have distributed tickets among themselves instead of consulting workers. Nobody bothered to consult workers."

"We are also sure that nothing will come out of it [protest] but we will have to struggle for our rights. We cannot and will not allow a few opportunists to use party for own vested interest. Many members in the parliamentary board including the general secretary, Faisal Karim Kundi, Najmuddin Khan, Syed Zahir Ali Shah, Kiramatullah Khan Chargharmati have not only obtained tickets for themselves but also for relatives. Some capitalists and industrialists even did not appear before the parliamentary board but they were also allotted tickets, leaving the genuine workers to chant slogans," he said.

Saeed Ahmad said they would take a decision within the next few days and try to play their role for his party. The PPP, he said, was not the party of a few individuals or families as its leaders, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, didn't lay down their lives only for these few families, who had always usurped rights of genuine workers.

The PPP leader said the ideological workers were always ignored in almost every party. "The politics of principles has finished," he remarked. He said: "These few individuals want to gain power. They also gained power in the past but promoted only their relatives and insulted workers and party. They will do the same in future. We should follow the principles instead of doing politics for power."

Syed Abid Ali Shah, who had applied for a ticket, said he was punished for his loyalty and sacrifices. He said the workers throughout the province were unhappy over the 'controversial' decisions of the parliamentary board.

"Instead of nominating deserving workers, the board members distributed tickets among themselves," he alleged. Syed Abid Ali Shah pointed out that certain members of the board couldn't contest elections, but they deprived sincere workers of their rights.

These members, he said, had established a monopoly and were forcing dedicated workers to leave the party. Terming himself a true follower of the Bhutto, he said he would neither leave the party nor violate discipline but block the way of the corrupt leaders within the party, who always 'usurped' the rights of the workers. He urged the central leadership to convene workers' convention to end existing unrest and take effective measures to strengthen the party and ensure the success of its nominees in the forthcoming general election.

The sources said after holding the grand meeting, they would launch a protest movement by holding a press conference in Peshawar and hold meetings in every district by July 25. The workers, he said, would force the leadership to review the decisions in a bid to strengthen the party instead of allowing a few individuals or families to use it for their vested interests.

PPP Deputy Information Secretary Gohar Inqilabi, who along with other office-bearers from Swabi district had protested against the allotment of party ticket to a candidate Zulfiqar, maintained that the party had accepted their complaint.

He said that since the party had withdrawn ticket to Zulfiqar and allotted it to Mohammad Ashfaq and that was why they ended the protest. "We will now work for the success of party candidate," he added.

Gohar Inqilabi said it was not correct to say that all board members distributed tickets among themselves, saying former governor Masood Kausar, Azam Afridi, Syed Ayub Shah and others had not applied for party tickets.

Nobody from Kohat, he said, applied for a ticket. He said though the board allotted more than three tickets to some families, there was no suitable and electable candidate in those constituencies. Gohar Inqilabi said the parliamentary board considered seniority and family background of the applicants before allotting the tickets.

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