Zardari conspicuously missing from political scene

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief and former President Asif Ali Zardari is conspicuously missing from the political scene, heated up by the controversy over the offshore companies named in the Panama leaks, with the objective of giving his young son, Bilawal, a totally free hand to spearhead the party, writes Tariq Butt.

Even after the passage of 34 days since the surfacing of the offshore shells, Zardari has not consciously uttered a single word on the issue while Bilawal and a number of PPP leaders are dilating on it with a lot of sound and fury on daily basis.

“This is a deliberate policy being pursued by the former president so that Bilawal is in a position to run the party the way he likes and tackle even ticklish issues,” a close aide of Zardari, who always remains in contact with him, told The News when asked about his boss’ complete silence.

He said some people used to “raise objections” that Zardari was not allowing Bilawal to lead the PPP and always dominates him. “The former president has accepted their advice and sidelined himself.”

However, the aide said that Zardari, who is in London for a month now, would speak on every important political issue the way he has been in the past, when he will fly back to Pakistan very soon.

Since his disappearance from the domestic scenario, Zardari has avoided to issue political statements. The remarks he last made in a press release related to the Labour Day. It was reported on Sunday that Zardari took notice of the assassination of rights activist and blogger, Khurram Zaki, and directed the Sindh government to arrest the killers.

The aide said that Bilawal was not only giving his opinion on every key political matter but was also touring different parts of Pakistan. The PPP chairman has addressed a public rally in Kotli in connection with the forthcoming general elections in Azad Kashmir and has also visited Lahore and Islamabad, meeting senior party leaders. He will maintain his hectic political activities in Zardari’s absence.

However, it is generally believed that Bilawal often consults with his father and follows the guidelines given by him on the political issues. It is unlikely that the stands he has taken on different matters are in conflict with those of Zardari.

A few weeks after making his famous highly aggressive statement against army generals in which he had also stated that they (meaning the army chief) are to stay in power only for a three years’ tenure while the PPP will always remain in the field, Zardari went abroad last year and has since refrained from offering his opinion on the political controversies.

Since then, Bilawal, who has frequently traveled abroad to get guidance from his father, has been quite active. He is working hard to revive the lost glory of his party by taking on the government. He recently made the most hard-hitting statement against the prime minister in his Kotli public meeting.

When Nawaz Sharif visited London last month for his medical check-up, Zardari sent a get-well-soon message to him. But no meeting was held as it was not planned. The prime minister plans to travel to London before the end of the current month for consultation with his doctors about his heart issue. So far, it is not known whether or not any meeting between him and Zardari is scheduled. However, grapevine has it that they will have a session to devise a way out of the present messy situation caused by the Panama leaks.

A PPP insider told The News that the party would keep the government under tremendous pressure in the same fashion as Nawaz Sharif had done with its regime, but would continue to strongly oppose its unnatural ouster as part of any conspiracy.

“As the well-considered, time-tested policy of the PPP, we have always been staunchly opposed to intervention or interference of the establishment in democratic dispensation,” he said.

The insider said that this was clear to all the opposition parties including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which had jointly prepared the Terms of Reference (ToRs) for the yet-to-be-formed Supreme Court judicial commission.

He did not agree with the view that Bilawal, who is inexperienced in the political field, was playing in the hands of some hard-line PPP leaders from Punjab, who have not yet forgotten the beating they received in the 2013 general elections at the hands of the PML-N and who want to create political chaos.

The insider said that like before the PPP would not approve any street agitation for the sit-in before the Raiwind residence of the prime minister. It would continue to stress a negotiated settlement of the controversy over the ToRs and virtually work for a solution, he said.