The PPP denounced the remarks made by its venerable leader Aitzaz Ahsan against Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, the head of the army, and said that Gen. Bajwa had joined Imran Khan’s “anti-democracy agenda.”
A PPP chapter leader in Punjab outlined Mr. Ahsan’s actions against the party from the 1970s.
Rana Farooq Saeed, the interim president of the Punjab PPP, stated at a press conference on Wednesday that Aitzaz Ahsan “has become a major part of Imran Khan’s scheme to derail democracy in the country [by claiming that the army chief had spared the Sharifs from conviction in cases]”.
In response to the accusation made by Mr. Ahsan in a media discussion the day before, Mr. Saeed refrained from mentioning Gen. Bajwa.
However, it was stated in the invitation sent to the media for the news conference that it would focus on Aitzaz Ahsan’s remarks regarding Gen. Bajwa and the National Accountability Bureau.
Mr. Saeed claimed that the former PPP Senator had long defended Khan’s “fraudulent” politics while consistently criticising the PPP’s leadership and ideas.
He claimed that by standing silent when Khan used the NAB to arrest Asif Ali Zardari and Faryal Talpur and registered “fake” proceedings against Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Mr. Ahsan aided Khan’s political scheming.
“Aitzaz Ahsan’s record demonstrates that he continued to participate in political engineering against the PPP throughout every administration and that he used politics solely for the purpose of furthering his own financial and personal interests.”
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto quit the PPP in 1977 when the party was having problems and joined its fierce political adversary Tehreek-i-Istaqlal. In 2007-2008, he supported Nawaz Sharif in his efforts to have Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry reinstated.
Mr. Saeed claimed that Mr. Ahsan’s constant endorsement of Imran Khan was infuriating PPP members, who were calling for his expulsion from the party’s central executive committee as well as the termination of his membership.
“I am expressing the hopes and needs of employees from all around the province as the acting president of the Punjab PPP. We demand that Aitzaz Ahsan’s basic membership be suspended and that Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Asif Ali Zardari, and the Central Executive Committee kick him out of the organisation.
He asserted that Mr. Ahsan’s Zaman Park home was the target of a worker-led siege in retaliation for Mr. Ahsan’s endorsement of Imran Khan, and that the provincial chapter should rule on the demand.
