PPP meeting marred by youth members protest

PESHAWAR: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa failed to discuss and finalise any strategy for opposition’s protest on July 25, as members of People’s Students Federation (PSF) and People’s Youth Organisation (PYO) staged a protest against the party’s provincial office-bearers.

PPP KP chapter president Humayun Khan presided over a special meeting at the residence of PPP leader Aurangzeb Khan to discuss plan for opposition’s meeting on July 25 but the infuriated youths started protests against what they termed the unilateral decisions and interference of the party provincial chapter office-bearers in their affairs.

They accused the provincial president of damaging the party in the province.

The protesting youths did not allow the provincial leaders to speak and the meeting was wrapped up to avoid a physical clash after the exchange of hot words between the supporters of leaders and the protesters.

The protesting youths in their separate chat with The News vowed to continue protest till the acceptance of their demands and run the party’s wing according to their party manifesto.

Faraz Khan, PSF Mardan president, held the provincial deputy information secretary Gohar Inqilabi and his supporters, including the provincial president Humayun Khan responsible for the deteriorating situation of the party in the province.

“This is my point, which I raised in the presence of Humayun Khan and Gohar Inqilabi,” he said.

He said PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had nominated him as the PSF president after an interview and according to the party’s constitution, their office-bearers should have been students and less than 28 years of age but he claimed that currently 70 percent are overage and majority of them are not students and not even studying in any educational institution.

Faraz Khan recalled that he had organized a convention in Swabi but Gohar Inqilabi issued him show-cause notice, posing a question as to why the PPP had been made the property of office-bearers or individuals and why they were promoting relatives in the party. He asked why the PPP candidates had lost the election with a huge margin in the presence of their leaders.

To protest against the undue interference of Gohar Inqilabi, Faraz Khan and many others had resigned and announced that on the social media.

When asked whether the social media was a proper forum for that, he said he did so to register his protest. Like him, he said, many other office-bearers from Dir, Swabi and other districts had resigned only because the party provincial chapter office-bearers were appointing favourites and “yes men” instead of caring for the party organisation.

The senior vice-president PYO, Hazrat Ali Yousafzai, expressed the same views, saying the deputy information secretary was nominating his relatives and the newcomers and ignored ideological workers.

He held Gohar and his supporters responsible for grouping in the party because he allegedly interfered particularly in the women wing, PYO and PSF.

When asked as to whether he had raised these apprehensions at the proper forum, he said he had informed the provincial chapter leaders and others responsible but nothing practical was done to improve the situation.

But Gohar Inqilabi, on the other hand, said he was deputy information secretary and he had to perform his duty and never interfered in any wing.

He recalled that the party had formed a committee comprising senior leaders including Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Faisal Karim Kundi, Humayun Khan, Sartaj Khan, Bahramand Tangi, Shah Zulqarnain and him and the Chairman Bilawal Bhutto nominated the office-bearers on its recommendations.

Gohar Inqilabi said since he belonged to Mardan and remained a member of these wings, the leaders consulted him.

He said that when the president for the Mardan party chapter organised the provincial convention, he had reminded him to convene the convention at the divisional level.

“Later, a show-cause was issued but he did not submit a satisfactory response. Instead of taking further action, we kept the matter pending with an aim to pursue our dissident workers. But there were a few people, who are misguiding them,” he said.

“These youths sabotaged the recent meeting on the directives of those people opposing the office-bearers despite the fact they were not invited to the meeting,” he added.

“We have been saying that those who don’t follow discipline could form another party. We will follow discipline, rules and regulations and will not allow those violating party’s discipline,” he said, adding: “The party will take strict action against any miscreants.”