Bad timing, a lack of preparation, and an ill thought out strategy led the all parties conference (APC) recently convened by the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) to be an utter failure, embarrassing party leaders Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
The PPP convened an APC on March 4 to discuss the federal government’s bill for extending military courts for another two years. The bill was tabled in wake of the recent wave of terrorism to help bring immediate and swift justice to the arrested terrorists, their facilitators, abettors, and financiers.
The failure of the APC compelled the PPP leadership to hold a follow up press conference the very next day during which the PPP had to announce its own 9-point charter of demands as it failed to muster political support from other parties.
Asif Zardari, who is known for his negotiation skills and obtaining a consensus with opponents, failed miserably and was unable to have a joint declaration issued over the subject matter.
The APC also failed in evolving a consensus over another agenda item: the mainstreaming of FATA. None of the parties agreed with each other over their demands over the issue and the APC ended without any headway being made.
The conference not only failed to attract major opposition parties like the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) but even failed to win over likeminded parties.
Interactions with the participants and several PPP leaders reveal that not only was the moot ill-timed, but the party itself lacked a clear agenda which led to the haphazard culmination of the APC.
“There was a total chaos in the party. No homework had been done on draft proposals wither as no prior consultation was made with the party’s allies. Hence, the moot ended leaving the PPP in utter isolation. Resultantly, the party leadership was forced to hold its own press conference over the issue the following day,” a PPP leader told Pakistan Today requesting not being named.
The source claimed that the top party leadership had been embarrassed by the newly appointed secretary-general of the party, Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, who had not prepared for the moot.
“No agenda or draft of joint declaration was prepared to be shared with the participants. The moot ended leaving the party in isolation,” the source added.
Another party leader said that it was the PTI which had sabotaged the PPP’s conference by agreeing to the federal government’s draft bill over the military courts’ extension.
“We were a bit late in reaching out to our opposition colleagues, and the PTI, QWP, and some other parties had already reached a consensus on the federal government’s draft. This consensus was a major blow to the PPP’s bargaining position. Perhaps the party leadership decided to convene the APC as an afterthought,” the source asserted.
Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Chief Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told Pakistan Today that the APC lacked a clear agenda.
“Since most of the political parties invited to the APC had already agreed to the amended bill of the federal government on the extension of the military courts, the APC had lost its charm. Moreover, the ill-timed moot looked like a pressure tactic by the PPP chief,” said Sherpao.
Asked to elaborate, Sherpao said that it looked as if PPP chief Asif Zardari wanted to assert pressure on the federal government by using the APC as a “bargaining chip”.
“We had told the PPP leaders that we have already given our consent to the federal government for the extension of the military courts. But they urged us to join as they wanted to share the proposals framed by Senator Aitzaz Ahsan and Farooq H Naek, so we agreed,” he added.
Sherpao said that when the meeting began, the participants asked the PPP to share their draft proposals with the federal government.
“We told them that since the parliamentary party leaders were set to take up the government’s proposed bill on Thursday (tomorrow), we will also discuss the proposals of the PPP,” he maintained.
PML-Q Information secretary Kamil Ali Agha also agreed with Sherpao’s notion that it seemed that the PPP wanted to use the APC as a bargaining chip against the federal government.
“It seemed that the APC had been convened in a hap hazard move without any prior planning and the PPP camp seemed to be in utter disarray on the objective of the conference,” he said.
“There was no proposal for the participants, and nor was there any joint declaration proposed for the APC. No prior agenda was distributed among the invitees. Hence, it was a sort of a hotchpotch move without any clear objective,” said Senator Agha.
He said that participating party leaders had strong reservations about the previous role played by Asif Zardari.
“The PPP, over the years, has had no clear strategy and has lost its track. The PPP hasn’t proved itself as a real opposition over the years,” he added.
He said that the PPP’s second agenda item was about the mainstreaming of FATA (federally administered tribal areas).
“It seems the second agenda item was enlisted at the last minute just to make someone happy. But the participants couldn’t evolve any consensus over that either,” said the PML leader.
Despite repeated attempts, PPP Secretary-General Farhatullah Babar was not available for comments. Faisal Karim Kundi also refused to comment, responding to a text message that he was in a meeting with the party chairman at the moment and could not respond at length.
