Daily Times

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), accompanied by police personnel, arrested the PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari from his residence in Islamabad on Monday. The arrest came hours after the Islamabad High Court rejected the application seeking extension in the pre-arrest bails of Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur in the fake accounts case.

A number of party workers as well as two of Zardari’s children, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari saw the former president off as he left the Zardari House for NAB office in Islamabad.

Zardari spent 11 years in jail on corruption charges; that was when Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, was alive. Zardari denied any wrongdoing.

The present case pertains to ‘suspicious’ transactions worth Rs4.4 billion, allegedly carried out through a fictitious bank account. According to the prosecution, the account titled M/S A One International was fake, and it received the sum of Rs4.4billion, out of which Rs30million was paid to the Zardari Group at two different times.

According to sources, Zardari had called his legal team whether to challenge the IHC judgment in the SC or not.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, at the country’s helm for more than six and a half years, was a transformative figure in Pakistan’s history. Bhutto, the founder of the PPP, was popular and charismatic, in addition to being brilliant, erudite, articulate, and indefatigable. Bhutto had a razor-sharp mind, a photographic memory, a sense of history, and a wonderful political antenna.

Since its formation in 1967, the PPP has been voted into power on five separate occasions-1970,1977,1988,1993, 2008. After the re-establishment of democracy in 1988 following Zia’s death, a two-party system developed, with the PPP and IJI (later succeeded by PML-N) as the two major parties.

In 1977, general elections were held in which the PPP secured a majority. However, the PNA-led opposition started demonstrations on the pretext of alleged rigging in elections. Tensions mounted, and despite an agreement reached between the opposition and the PPP, martial law was imposed in the country by Chief of Army Staff General Zia ul-Huq in 1977. In April 1979, after a controversial trial, Bhutto was found guilty of conspiracy to murder ofa political opponent, and he was executed by hanging.

In 1982, Bhutto’s daughter, Benazir Bhutto, was elected as the chairperson of the PPP.

After 12 long years, the PPP returned to power after winning the general elections in 1988, with Benazir Bhutto becoming the first female prime minister of a Muslim country. In 1990, the PPP government was dismissed on issues regarding national security and corruption. The PPP later returned to power through general elections in 1993. Again, Benazir’s government was dismissed by the party’s own elected president, Farooq Leghari, in September 1996.

The present case pertains to ‘suspicious’ transactions worth Rs 4.4 billion, allegedly carried out through a fictitious bank account

After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007, the 2008 elections were held on February 18. The PPP had a considerable lead on all competing political parties. On March 28, 2008, the PPP appointed Yousaf Raza Gillani as the prime minister, and formed a coalition government with the PML-N. Later, the PML-N withdrew from the coalition. On September 5, 2008, the PPP nominated its co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, for the presidential election.

After winning the presidential election, in April 2010, President Zardari voluntarily surrendered his political and presidential powers to Prime Minister Gillani and parliament through the 18th Amendment.

After the disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gillani by the Supreme Court, on June 22, 2012, the PPP nominated Raja Pervez Ashraf, who was elected the new prime minister of Pakistan. In the 2013 general elections, the PPP lost, and the PML-N came in power again. The PPP succeeded in Sindh in 2013, and even in 2018, three consecutive times.

Sindh mostly votes for the PPP. A new generation is on its way towards democracy. Zardari has given the idea for younger politicians to come forward and the older to retire.

PPP’s leadership and its workers must look, retrospectively, into what they need to do to dispel the growing perception of it drawing too much from its past laurels, without doing enough to move forward. It needs to revive its left-of-the-centre ideological moorings and its populist politics; the PPP slogan of the 1970s, ‘Roti, Kapra aur Makkan’ is as good now as it was then.

Punjab represents 60 percent of the population; it has monopoly representation in bureaucracy. The powers that be would not let the PPP win elections to form government in the province. This is the trend since 1988 until now.

Whatever the machinations of political engineers might be, one must remember that electoral dynamics are different. The PPP by strengthening its links with the left-of-the centre forces in Punjab, and working in the rural areas, especially in South Punjab, can change its political complexion. Bilawal Zardari-Bhutto must lead the PPP from the front. The PPP chairman, Bilawal, successfully hijacked Nawaz Sharif’s narrative, and is emerging as the leading advocate of civilian supremacy in the country. Bilawal’s upright stance has helped the PPP to, somewhat, regain its lost image and prestige in the Pakistani political sphere. Bilawal’s recent iftar party in honour of the opposition leaders in Islamabad added strength to his role in national politics.

As far as Asif Ali Zardari is concerned, he will face the trial, and the people of Sindh are watching. The PPP may get more support from the public; a party remains in a difficult position when it is no longer friends with the establishment. The PPP has vast roots in the province of Sindh. It will be a good thing for Bilawal to lead the party and re-activate it in all provinces. If the PPP is revived, its credit would be given to Bilawal, who is presently acceptable to all.

The writer is a retired doctor of the Sindh Health Department