Chairing a meeting of the Pakistan People’s Party office-bearers, elected members, ticket-holders and workers from Lahore district here on Saturday, Gilani once again asked them to maintain cordial relations with the coalition partners.
However, he expressed strong resentment against the home ministry officials over “unjust distribution of arms licences” and assured the meeting participants that an impartial probe would be conducted into the matter.
The prime minister said: “The credit for the formation of the 1973 Constitution goes to the PPP, and now it will restore it to its original form.” He said 25 million new CNICs (Computerised National Identity Cards) would be issued to the applicants before the next elections.
Sources said the majority of the PPP members urged the prime minister at the meeting to part ways with the Pakistan Muslim League-N at the earliest and let the party play the role of a vibrant opposition in the Punjab Assembly.
Prominent among those who attended the meeting include PPP General Secretary Senator Jehangir Badr, Punjab PPP President Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan, Coordinator to President for Punjab Naveed Chaudhry, PPP Lahore President Chaudhry Asgher, etc.
The meeting, which soon after its inception, turned into an open court of the PPP workers, criticised the PML-N leadership and their own federal ministers for giving them a cold shoulder, the sources added.
The party members told Gilani that various corruption scandals of the PML-N ministers and parliamentarians were regularly coming to the fore, and causing embarrassment to the PPP, being an ally party in the Punjab government. They said the PPP should quit the provincial government and adopt an aggressive stance against the Nawaz-League provincial government.
The party insiders said PPP Lahore President Chaudhry Asgher also handed over a copy of an FIR, registered against over 250 PPP workers in the second week of February, when they took out a rally to express solidarity with party Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari. He said the PPP workers needed to be accommodated now and their problems, particularly relating to employment, should be addressed, the sources added.
PPP Punjab Finance Secretary Aurangzeb Burki, in his speech criticised the “unjust distribution of arms licences by the ministry concerned”. He said out of total 21,000 licences issued by the ministry, not a single was given to any of the PPP office-bearers from Lahore.
He also complained that neither any attention was being paid to the party workers nor any share was ever given to them in any Hajj, job or licence quota, which was giving a rise to disenchantment among them, the sources added.
The prime minister said he would hold an impartial inquiry into arms licences issues.
Ex-MPA and PPP Federal Council member Dr Zia Ullah Khan Bangash complained that the PML-N leadership in Punjab was not fulfilling its promises and it would be a better option if the party sits on the opposition benches in the Punjab Assembly.
The PPP offered all sacrifices for the restoration of the judges, but the PML-N hijacked the movement and solely claimed credit for it, he added.
The prime minister while responding to the complaints and demands said the leadership would make all-out efforts for the welfare of the party workers. He said he had asked the PPP co-chairperson to convene the party central executive committee (CEC) meetings regularly so that the message of the leadership could reach the workers. He admitted the PPP government’s achievements could not be highlighted properly in the past years.
Gilani said the Pakistan People’s Party should also be given credit for uniting the nation against terrorism and the world had already acknowledged this great achievement.
Agencies add: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reiterated to run the party in accordance with the vision and mission of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto Shaheed.
“The PPP is not just a party but a movement and it is open to talks,” he said and added it was the responsibility of workers to point out weaknesses of the leadership and guide it so that they could be overcome, if any.
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