Zardar?i visits former premie?r?s reside?nce; Gilani to head PPP?s re-electi?on bid.
Yousaf Raza Gilani receives President Zardari at Multan airport. PHOTO: SANA
MULTAN:?With their discontent becoming increasingly vocal in the face of fresh and new cases, the Gilani family was courted by President Asif Ali Zardari and a high-powered Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) delegation at their home in Multan on Friday.
According to participants of a spate of meetings that took place later at former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani?s residence, the visit was not merely a courtesy call, but turned out to be an important one for both the PPP and Gilani.
The former prime minister has once again been given a key role in the PPP?s upcoming election blitz, which, it is said, Gilani will head. The president and the former premier had a one-on-one meeting that lasted about half an hour.
The visit follows an outburst by MNA Abdul Qadir Gilani ? the son of former premier Gilani ? on the floor of the National Assembly earlier in the week. Abdul Qadir had not only complained of harassment by state agencies, such as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), but suggested that the family had been abandoned by the PPP after his father was dismissed from office by the Supreme Court.
The notion of abandonment would have been assuaged following Friday?s visit by the president, along with a high-powered PPP delegation ? that included, among at least 10 federal ministers and parliamentarians, senior leaders such as the party?s Punjab president Mian Manzoor Ahmed Watoo, the party?s chief whip in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah as well as Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim. Provincial and national legislators from the region were also called to attend meetings.
The president assured former premier Gilani of the government?s all-out support to him and his family in all cases against them.
Gilani was disqualified for refusing to yield to the Supreme Court orders to write a letter to Swiss authorities against President Zardari. The same letter was later written by his successor, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, which is said to have disillusioned Gilani. But he seems to have been hoisted back to a pivotal role by President Zardari.
Significantly, according to participants of one of the meetings, the president told the gathering that the PPP had finalised a constitutional plan to make former premier Gilani eligible for the next polls. Currently, Gilani is ineligible to contest the next general election given his conviction by the Supreme Court, which had led to his disqualification from prime ministership as well from membership of the National Assembly. The plan, said the president, would be revealed at ?the right time?.
In the meantime, however, Gilani is said to have been given a number of pivotal tasks by the president. Participants of the meetings, as well as sources privy to the discussions, told The Express Tribune that Gilani has been given the task of heading the ruling party?s campaign to seek re-election in the upcoming polls across the country.
Upon his arrival at Multan airport, the president was received personally by Gilani, his two sons, Abdul Qadir and Ali Musa, as well as federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin, who is also a prominent leader from the region, and other notables of the area.
Seraiki province
The issue of a new province, widely seen to be a goal particularly close to the heart of the former premier, also came under discussion.
Sources told The Express Tribune that Gilani urged the president to push through the formation of the Seraiki province. President Zardari is said to have told the former premier that the PPP did not have the numbers to push the entire process on its own and had to evolve a consensus among some key quarters.
Gilani is said to have told the president that he would ?handle? the Pakistan Mulsim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as well as all other parties and get them onboard.
Seraiki nationalist groups and leaders were also invited for meetings with the president.
According to a handout from the Presidency, Zardari reiterated the government?s commitment for the welfare of the people of South Punjab, on one hand, and to their case for a separate province, on the other.
While there was no date given for the new province, the president committed to the formation of a ?Seraiki Bank?. He said the matter had been discussed with businessmen, agriculturalists and industrialists, and would be announced before the next elections.
Other issues
Sources told The Express Tribune that ticket allocations also came under discussion ? particularly for contentious constituencies. For one, the PPP has decided to allow Mureed Hussain Qureshi to compete from Muzzafargarh. Mureed Shah, who was specially called for a meeting with the president, is the brother of former PPP leader and foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who defected to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI).
Also discussed was the conflict between two central leaders of the PPP, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Jamshed Dasti in Muzzafargarh.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2012.
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