02-14-2011, 04:34 PM
ISLAMABAD - Signs of a rift have started to appear in the PPP after President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani dropped some “heavyweights” and changed the portfolios of others while shaping the new cabinet.
The intra-party tension appeared on Sunday when Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had refused to become part of the cabinet when he found out about the arrest warrant for former president Pervez Musharraf. Qureshi told Pakistan Today that he took the decision before arrest warrant for Musharraf had been issued.
“I had asked party’s central command at the January 31 meeting that I was ready to quit as foreign minister if it had problems with my stance on the Raymond David issue,” Qureshi said. Calling the statement character assassination, Qureshi said he was being hit below the belt, but he refused to accept that all this was being done on the behest of PPP’s central command.
He said he had resigned as district nazim because he did not want to work under Musharraf and had also opposed the 17th Amendment. Qureshi said Firdous worked under the former president’s regime. Sindh Law Minister Ayyaz Soomro also said Qureshi had refused to join the cabinet because of Musharraf’s arrest warrants. Soomro said Qureshi had levelled baseless allegations against the party.
Sources in the PPP believe that Babar Awan and Soomro issued such statements against Qureshi after being asked by party’s central command, as it was angry with Qureshi for his revelations to the media claiming that he was not given the portfolio of foreign minister because he resisted the government’s move to give immunity to Davis.
Another PPP MNA expressed disgust over the ministers’ tirade against one of the party’s top leaders.
The intra-party tension appeared on Sunday when Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had refused to become part of the cabinet when he found out about the arrest warrant for former president Pervez Musharraf. Qureshi told Pakistan Today that he took the decision before arrest warrant for Musharraf had been issued.
“I had asked party’s central command at the January 31 meeting that I was ready to quit as foreign minister if it had problems with my stance on the Raymond David issue,” Qureshi said. Calling the statement character assassination, Qureshi said he was being hit below the belt, but he refused to accept that all this was being done on the behest of PPP’s central command.
He said he had resigned as district nazim because he did not want to work under Musharraf and had also opposed the 17th Amendment. Qureshi said Firdous worked under the former president’s regime. Sindh Law Minister Ayyaz Soomro also said Qureshi had refused to join the cabinet because of Musharraf’s arrest warrants. Soomro said Qureshi had levelled baseless allegations against the party.
Sources in the PPP believe that Babar Awan and Soomro issued such statements against Qureshi after being asked by party’s central command, as it was angry with Qureshi for his revelations to the media claiming that he was not given the portfolio of foreign minister because he resisted the government’s move to give immunity to Davis.
Another PPP MNA expressed disgust over the ministers’ tirade against one of the party’s top leaders.