Internal rifts between Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders marred the chehlum of late PPP chairperson Nusrat Bhutto on Wednesday, as only a few people gathered to commemorate the occasion. Senior PPP leader Syed Asif Hashmi, who is also the chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), lashed out at the event organisers for gathering only a few PPP workers on the occasion. The event was organised by PPP-Lahore President Afnan Butt at his residence, and attended by Governor Sardar Latif Khosa.
Apparently, Hashmi’s outrage reflected his personal grudges against Butt. The ETPB chairman asked the governor why he was attending an event which had less participation than the party’s union council meeting. He lamented Butt for organising a “flopped ceremony”, adding that he was not worthy to hold the position of party’s Lahore president. He expressed frustration over party workers’ indifference over the chehlum. He said only 20 people attended the ceremony, and half of them were security personnel guarding the venue. He said the governor had been claiming that numerous people were attending ceremonies, but the gathering at Butt’s residence gave a different picture.
Several people were trying to calm Hashmi to avoid embarrassment in front of reporters. However, the charged up Hashmi vented all his anger against Butt and the governor. In response Governor Khosa kept his calm and did not say a single word.
When Butt was asked about unimpressive arrangements and the ensuing uproar, he said that Hashmi was annoyed because he was not given an opportunity to make a speech on the occasion, adding that otherwise a large number of party workers had attended the ritual. Talking to reporters, Khosa said the government would not make any compromise on the country’s sovereignty. Referring to the recent NATO attacks on Pakistani troops, he said Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had promptly responded by calling an emergency meeting of the Cabinet’s Defence Committee, which decided to immediately cut NATO supplies through Pakistan and vacate the Shamsi airbase from US control. The chehlum participants included Samina Khalid Gurki and Naveed Chaudhary.
