Fida Hussnaiin
Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Co-Chairman and former President Asif Ali Zardari recently visited Lahore, attended a wedding ceremony of a party leader’s close relative and remained limited to Bilawal House and his close circle.
Unlike his previous visits and meetings with the local leaders in Lahore, he held few meetings with the leaders from the other provinces and discussed the prevailing political situation in the country.
It was quite strange that this time he was in Lahore but he was not seen contacting any party like the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) or Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) for any potential alliance or seat adjustment in Punjab.
The ‘silence’ on the part of Asif Ali Zardari at the moment when the leaders of the rival parties are holding meetings and discussing the options of potential alliance in Punjab has raised many questions.
On the other hand, PML-N, which believes that Lahore is its strong hold, has established collaboration and cooperation with PML-Q as PML-N Supremo personally visited Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain and discussed matters of mutual interests. The Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) has also struck a deal with the PML-N for seat adjustment in the upcoming elections.
Amid the deals and dialogues for the deals, the PPP and its top leadership seem quite “uninterested” in revival of the party in Punjab as it could announce any significant power show in Lahore or any other part of Punjab so far.
Even the newly established IPP has held power shows in Khanewal and Kamoke and announced the manifesto of their party to attract the voters for the upcoming elections.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who is holding power shows in many other parts of the province like the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan has not given any date for a powerful show in Lahore. Bilawal celebrated the party’s birthday in Quetta instead of Lahore—the city where the party was founded on November 30, 1967. Perhaps, he thinks that the party has lost its deep roots and direct connection with the ‘Jiyalas’, and therefore, he has delayed announcement of any date for a potential power show in the city.
