Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has left for Dubai after a tiff with his father, President Asif Ali Zardari, over the
affairs of the PPP, leaving the party without its star campaigner for Pakistan’s general election.

Bilawal, recently named patron-in-chief of the Pakistan People’s Party, developed differences with
Zardari and his sister, Faryal Talpur, over the party’s handling of key issues, including militant
violence, sectarian attacks against Shias and the award of party tickets for the polls scheduled for
May 11.

Two sources privy to the development revealed that Bilawal had made it clear to his father that
he felt the PPP had not strongly taken up issues like the shooting of teenage rights activist Malala
Yusufzai by Taliban fighters last year and three devastating bomb attacks on Shias in Quetta and
Karachi that killed nearly 250 people.

Bilawal was also upset with the PPP’s handling of issues that affect the youth, especially in the wake
of efforts by other parties like Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf to woo the youth ahead of the
polls, the sources said.

Bilawal was angered by Faryal Talpur’s refusal to award tickets to certain candidates in Sindh
province that he had recommended, a source said. “Last month, Bilawal had recommended the
names of some 200 PPP workers and asked former Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to give them
jobs but Talpur had intervened, causing bad blood between them,” the source said.

Bilawal discussed these matters with his father and sought authority to take decisions in party
matters. But Zardari sided with his sister, who plays a key role in the PPP’s affairs, the source said.

“When Zardari told him that he would be handed over the command of the party after he is groomed
politically, Bilawal got upset and left for Dubai,” a source said. Matters got so heated on one
occasion that a source quoted Bilawal as saying: “If I had to vote, even I wouldn’t vote for the PPP.”