It is ineed a shame that PPP is going through so much turmoil.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=91447
ISLAMABAD: Benazir Bhutto’s assassination has left the political future of many newcomers to the party in limbo with Lt. Gen. (retd) Tauqeer Zia not being an exception
The former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, against whom the PPP had filed a corruption reference, said he would have to check the mind of new party guards and only then could determine his future course of action.
“I have yet to check the minds of the party hierarchy as to what they think about me and how they could make use of me,” he told The News on Tuesday.
Zia, who claims he had developed an excellent equation with Ms Bhutto in just one meeting, admitted he had no old ties with Benazir Bhutto.
And it took him no time to win late Bhutto’s confidence during the single visit they made to Peshawar where she went in connection with political campaign on December 26, a day before her assassination.
Although, he was taken into the party fold in early December, Zia said his first meeting with Bhutto took place on her way to Peshawar where she went to address a public rally.
He said Bhutto sent an e-mail desiring that Zia should accompany her to Peshawar and it was where he won her confidence.
“We traveled together and had a good discussion. She was keen to listen to me,” Zia said recalling his meeting.
Asked if he never met Bhutto before the Peshawar yatra, Zia said he met Bhutto when she came to the National Defense College as the prime minister and also when he was the DG Military Operations.
Responding to a question on how he made his way into the PPP, he said Qasim Zia, a provincial party leader, had contacted him. “I was contacted by Imran Khan and Qasim Zia both.”
Elaborating the prospects of his political future in the PPP, Zia said although he often met Jehangir Badr, he would wait for the hierarchy i.e. Asif Ali Zardari and Makhdoom Amin Fahim to decide if he could be of any use.
However, Jehangir Badr termed Zia as a valuable asset for the party and said Bhutto spoke very high of him.
“Benazir Bhutto had termed him (Zia) as a brave man. He was present on the stage during Benazir’s last address in Rawalpindi,” Badar said and added that Zia was very much a part of the PPP.
Zia is the person against whom the PPP had filed a corruption reference with NAB when he was the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
The reference was filed on April 7, 2005 which accused Zia of taking home an expensive official car at less than half of its original price in violation of the government policies. These details were put on the PPP website.
Even Benazir Bhutto’s spokesperson had told The News after Zia’s joining the PPP that the party stood by its reference. Farhatullah Babar, Bhutto’s spokesperson, had said that it was the duty of NAB to proceed against him.
He had even stated that the PPP would proceed against such references once it came to power.