PPP disowns Zulfiqar Mirza after anti-Zardari tirade

KARACHI: The Pakistan People’s Party on Tuesday disowned disgruntled party leader Zulfiqar Mirza for blaming PPP co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari of running the Sindh government as his ‘business empire’.

Speaking at a press conference here, PPP leader and Information Minister Sindh Sharjeel Inam Memon said that if Mirza does not trust the top party leadership then the party also does not want to keep any relations with him.

He said Mirza, who was the Sindh home minister during the PPP’s last tenure, had crossed ethical boundaries when he hurled ‘fabricated allegations on his own leader’.

Mirza, who happens to be husband of former speaker NA Fahmida Mirza, had claimed in an explosive interview to Geo News last week that the PPP was being run as 'a one-man show'.

"Asif Ali Zardari is running the Sindh provincial government like his personal business," he said while speaking in the “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Key Saath” show.

Mirza had also claimed during the interview that some 'cronies' of Zardari wanted to keep Bilawal away from politics.

“All this was against the principles of Benazir Bhutto and I believe Bilawal feels the same way,” he said.

The outspoken politician accused the PPP leadership of also personally benefiting from such policies.

Following the interview, PPP patron-in-chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday claimed in a tweet that the party is united, ruling out reports of his differences with his father.
“The PPP stands united, anyone claiming otherwise and speaking against the leadership is no friend of the party,” said Bilawal on social media.

The PPP chairman also used a Latin phrase on Twitter, “Et tu Brutus?” often used to question a good friend's loyalty.

Memon, during today’s press conference, said that Mirza wanted to give an impression that differences persist between Bilawal and his father. However, the PPP patron-in-chief has dismissed all such rumours thorough his tweet yesterday, he added.

He reminded Mirza about the presence of two of his relatives in the legislature due to ‘favours’ from Zardari, saying he talks against the same party leadership to which he is indebted.

The Sindh information further said that he will not answer Mirza in the same language he used against the party leadership as the latter did not teach him to do so.