ISLAMABAD, April 5: Another faction of the Pakistan Muslim League may be in the offing under the leadership of the PML-Q’s sacked president, Mian Mohammad Azhar, spadework for which has already reportedly been set in motion.
According to sources close to Mian Azhar, 40 prominent Muslim Leaguers from across the country have been invited to attend the first meeting of the group in Islamabad on April 15, of which 22 have confirmed their participation.
Interestingly, Begum Abida Hussain and her husband Syed Fakhar Imam, who took the lead in forming a ‘like-minded’ faction in the Nawaz faction of the PML in the aftermath of the October 12, 1999, army takeover, are active again in the formation of another version of the party.
Both had first gone to Mian Azhar, the arch rival of Nawaz Sharif, and then were joined by the Chaudhrys of Gujrat under the umbrella of the army and the establishment against what they termed the wrong policies of the ousted prime minister.
It is not clear as to who is patronizing the new group of disgruntled leaguers this time and whether it will be organized within the party or a new party will be formed.
Some of the prominent invitees to the first meeting include Begum Abida Hussain, Syed Fakhar Imam, Mian Munir and Mansoor Hayat Tamman.
Mian Azhar, who was forced to resign as party chief after he developed differences with party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain before and after the October polls, had remained inactive so far, though he criticized the new government’s policies.
His contacts with the Sharifs have since been restored as he has reportedly talked to PML (Nawaz) president Shahbaz Sharif on the telephone at least twice recently, sources close to him have said.
It is claimed that, besides the main invitees, some MNAs and MPAs have also assured of their cooperation at an appropriate stage.
Most of the invitees as described are those who had either lost or who were made to lose the October polls and were subsequently disallowed from contesting for the Senate. Some others were made ineffective in running party affairs.
The so-called pro-Musharraf faction, known as the ‘like-minded’ in the beginning, was later named as PML Quaid-i-Azam, with Mian Azhar being stripped off its presidency to give way to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
