Zardari targeting Benazir’s close aides considered threat to his supremacy

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari considers his critics and supporters of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, as rivals and a potential threat to his supremacy, a Telegraph report suggests.

Zardari has initiated disciplinary action against Dr Safdar Abbasi and his wife, Naheed Khan, a close associate of Bhutto, for their open criticism of his rule.

Another senior Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader, Aitzaz Ahsan, has been snatched of his Central Executive Committee membership, as Ahsan played a leading role in the movement to restore the former Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was sacked by former President General Pervez Musharraf.

"We have not yet been issued notices, but Aitzaz is first and we will be next in line," the newspaper quoted, Abbasi, as saying.

Naheed Khan had charged Zardari of running the party as a ''one-man show'', and termed his leadership as a complete failure. She also accused Zardari of abandoning Bhutto's political vision.

Sources said that Zardari was particularly irritated when Abbasi, her wife, and Ahsan visited Bhutto's sister Sanam in London recently. Zardari considered the meeting as a conspiration against his leadership, as Sanam had earlier been presented as a possible successor of Benazir Bhutto, following her assassination, by some senior party leaders.

Sources also added that close associates of Zardari aired false news about romance between Fatima, Bhutto's niece, and Hollywood actor George Clooney to malign her image and dent her authority as a potential future leader of the party.