Patriots, PPP-S become PPP

By Shahzad Raza

ISLAMABAD: The Patriots on Tuesday merged into the Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) and the leaders pledged to follow the political and economic ideology of late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

While unanimously adopting the merger resolution, the joint General Council (GC) of both the Patriots and PPP-S also decided that the party would be called the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and would be registered with the Election Commission. The PPP GC unanimously elected Rao Sikander Iqbal as chairman and Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao as president. It also elected Faisal Saleh Hayat as PPP secretary general and Noraiz Shakoor as the party’s senior vice president.

It was decided that the other office-bearers would be elected in the near future. “We want to run the party on the ideology and vision of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto shaheed (martyred). We will follow his political and economic ideology,” pledged the newly elected president.

The general councillors kept chanting slogans praising their leaders during the convention. In some of the slogans they wished Rao Sikander and Aftab Sherpao would become the next prime ministers of the country, but the leaders did not respond to those slogans.

Against the backdrop of the late Bhutto’s portrait, the leaders termed the merger “a golden and historic event in the political history of Pakistan that would always be remembered.” They called President Musharraf an “angel in military uniform.” The party president said that he felt great pain when Ms Bhutto directed the party leaders to contest the general election under a new party called the PPP-Parliamentarians. He added that Ms Bhutto did not allow anyone except herself to lead the PPP and contest the general elections.

Mr Sherpao said that a number of selfish people with vested interests were associated with Ms Bhutto’s party. The party chairman declared that they merged with the PPP-S to play a productive role in national politics. The secretary general asserted that they were neither incited nor pressured to merge with the PPP-S.

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