ISLAMABAD: Former PPP senator Enver Baig has paid a heavy price apparently for meeting PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and got his basic membership of the party suspended.
“Your basic membership of the party is suspended for working against party’s interest and policy,” says the suspension notice issued on Thursday to Mr Baig by the leadership through PPP Islamabad district president and Leader of the House in Senate Nayyar Bokhari within 24 hours of his meeting with Mr Sharif in Raiwind.
The action against Mr Baig is in sharp contrast to the party’s lenient view of a similar ‘offence’ committed by heavyweight Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Mr Baig, it may be mentioned, had played a significant role in finalisation of a deal between former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the United States, eventually leading to her return to the country in 2007.
The notice issued on Thursday restrains him from representing the party at any forum, but gives him a chance to “file an appeal to the highest forum in the party”.
Although the suspension notice has no mention of Mr Baig’s meeting with Mr Sharif, sources in the PPP told Dawn that the leadership had taken the decision to pre-empt the former senator’s possible move to announce joining the PML-N.
The sources said it was not for the first time that Mr Baig had met Mr Sharif without seeking permission from the party high command.
Previously, they said, the leadership had shown leniency, but after his second meeting it had no option but to take the extreme step.
But the PPP has so far been quiet about a similar meeting that former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi held with Mr Sharif last month.
“Ask the PPP Punjab president about it,” said Nayyar Bokhari when asked why did the party act differently when Mr Baig called on the PML-N leader.
When contacted, Mr Baig said he was surprised to know that his membership had been suspended without mentioning any specific reason. He said he would not file an appeal but would definitely give a ‘befitting’ written reply and ask the leadership to come up with the charge-sheet against him.
Mr Baig claimed that he had met Mr Sharif to discuss the political situation in the country with particular reference to violence in Karachi, the general law and order situation, price-hike and alleged rampant corruption in almost every government department.
Sources close to Mr Baig told Dawn that the former senator had been sidelined by Mr Zardari and was not given the party ticket in the 2009 Senate elections mainly because of his all-out support for Makhdoom Amin Fahim’s candidature for the post of prime minister after the 2008 elections.
Mr Zardari, the sources said, was not happy with Mr Baig for having lobbied for Mr Fahim and arranging his meetings with US and other western diplomats at his residence.
The sources said Mr Baig was disheartened when Mr Fahim became a federal minister and abandoned his long friendship.
After getting disappointed by the leadership’s behaviour and constantly getting a cold shoulder from Mr Zardari, the sources said, Mr Baig was now seriously exploring other options to continue his political career and planning to join the PML-N in the hope of getting a ticket for next year’s Senate polls.
Some sections in the PPP are wondering how Mr Shah Mehmood Qureshi survived in the party despite having declared an ‘open war’ against the leadership.
One PPP leader said it appeared that the party high command was reluctant to take action because of Mr Qureshi’s links with the establishment and the damage his expulsion could cause.
The party’s parliamentarians in Punjab at a meeting in Lahore last month had passed a unanimous resolution demanding immediate suspension of the basic membership of Mr Qureshi for meeting Mr Sharif without the permission of the leadership.
Mr Baig is not the first prominent member to be shown the door for allegedly violating party discipline. Earlier, the membership of Senator Safdar Abbasi, Naheed Khan, former political secretary to Ms Bhutto, former minister of state for law Afzal Sandhu and Dr Israr Shah was suspended for various reasons.
A show-cause notice was issued to former information minister Sherry Rehman for participating in talk shows on a private TV channel in violation of the party’s decision to boycott the said channel.
Ms Rehman, who once held the information offices of both the party and the government, was sidelined also for quitting the federal cabinet during the movement for the reinstatement of deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry
“Your basic membership of the party is suspended for working against party’s interest and policy,” says the suspension notice issued on Thursday to Mr Baig by the leadership through PPP Islamabad district president and Leader of the House in Senate Nayyar Bokhari within 24 hours of his meeting with Mr Sharif in Raiwind.
The action against Mr Baig is in sharp contrast to the party’s lenient view of a similar ‘offence’ committed by heavyweight Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Mr Baig, it may be mentioned, had played a significant role in finalisation of a deal between former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the United States, eventually leading to her return to the country in 2007.
The notice issued on Thursday restrains him from representing the party at any forum, but gives him a chance to “file an appeal to the highest forum in the party”.
Although the suspension notice has no mention of Mr Baig’s meeting with Mr Sharif, sources in the PPP told Dawn that the leadership had taken the decision to pre-empt the former senator’s possible move to announce joining the PML-N.
The sources said it was not for the first time that Mr Baig had met Mr Sharif without seeking permission from the party high command.
Previously, they said, the leadership had shown leniency, but after his second meeting it had no option but to take the extreme step.
But the PPP has so far been quiet about a similar meeting that former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi held with Mr Sharif last month.
“Ask the PPP Punjab president about it,” said Nayyar Bokhari when asked why did the party act differently when Mr Baig called on the PML-N leader.
When contacted, Mr Baig said he was surprised to know that his membership had been suspended without mentioning any specific reason. He said he would not file an appeal but would definitely give a ‘befitting’ written reply and ask the leadership to come up with the charge-sheet against him.
Mr Baig claimed that he had met Mr Sharif to discuss the political situation in the country with particular reference to violence in Karachi, the general law and order situation, price-hike and alleged rampant corruption in almost every government department.
Sources close to Mr Baig told Dawn that the former senator had been sidelined by Mr Zardari and was not given the party ticket in the 2009 Senate elections mainly because of his all-out support for Makhdoom Amin Fahim’s candidature for the post of prime minister after the 2008 elections.
Mr Zardari, the sources said, was not happy with Mr Baig for having lobbied for Mr Fahim and arranging his meetings with US and other western diplomats at his residence.
The sources said Mr Baig was disheartened when Mr Fahim became a federal minister and abandoned his long friendship.
After getting disappointed by the leadership’s behaviour and constantly getting a cold shoulder from Mr Zardari, the sources said, Mr Baig was now seriously exploring other options to continue his political career and planning to join the PML-N in the hope of getting a ticket for next year’s Senate polls.
Some sections in the PPP are wondering how Mr Shah Mehmood Qureshi survived in the party despite having declared an ‘open war’ against the leadership.
One PPP leader said it appeared that the party high command was reluctant to take action because of Mr Qureshi’s links with the establishment and the damage his expulsion could cause.
The party’s parliamentarians in Punjab at a meeting in Lahore last month had passed a unanimous resolution demanding immediate suspension of the basic membership of Mr Qureshi for meeting Mr Sharif without the permission of the leadership.
Mr Baig is not the first prominent member to be shown the door for allegedly violating party discipline. Earlier, the membership of Senator Safdar Abbasi, Naheed Khan, former political secretary to Ms Bhutto, former minister of state for law Afzal Sandhu and Dr Israr Shah was suspended for various reasons.
A show-cause notice was issued to former information minister Sherry Rehman for participating in talk shows on a private TV channel in violation of the party’s decision to boycott the said channel.
Ms Rehman, who once held the information offices of both the party and the government, was sidelined also for quitting the federal cabinet during the movement for the reinstatement of deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry
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