PESHAWAR, July 28: Former provincial minister Saleem Saifullah was unopposed elected as NWFP Pakistan Muslim League (QA) president here in the league’s provincial polls on Saturday.

Sardar Muhammad Yousaf and Agha Syed Ali Shah were elected as the general secretary and senior-vice president respectively. Whereas Malik Riaz was elected as the secretary information and Engineer Naeem as the secretary finance.

The members also elected eight vice-presidents and the same number of joint secretaries of the party. Almost all the office-bearers were elected unopposed.

The PML(QA) had decided to hold elections in the party after the promulgation of the Political Parties (Amendment) Order, 2002, which made intra-party polls till Aug 5 mandatory for all the political parties.

NWFP PML (QA) President Saifullah, after being elected, thanked the party members for confiding in him. Speaking on the occasion, he dispelled the impression that the party was ‘A’ or ‘B’ team of any power, and said they were not depending on any forces for the forthcoming elections.

He told the audience that an understanding had been reached between PML(QA) and PPP (Sherpao) on seat adjustment during the general elections while talks on the same issue were scheduled to be held on Aug 4, in Lahore, between the party’s central leaders and JUI(F) chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman and Jamaat-i-Islami Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmad.

Mr Saifullah, about the news of Nawaz Sharif’s willingness to vacate post of party’s president, said it was a positive development which would help in dialogues between PML(QA) and PML(N) for an election alliance.

However, he said that if they tried to bring forward Begum Kulsoom Nawaz or Shehbaz Sharif it would not resolve the differences as the PML was not a family concern of the Sharif’s.

About the issue of renaming the NWFP as Pukhtoonkhwa, he said it was the demand of a single political party. Renaming the province needed constitutional amendment and only the central government could do so.