PESHAWAR, Nov 17: The Sherpao and Patriots groups of the Pakistan People’s Party are going to announce their merger on forthcoming Thursday in Islamabad, an informed source said.
“All modalities have been worked out and discussions finalized in this regard. The announcement to merge the two groups will come on Thursday,” he said.
Under the agreed merger plan, Federal Minister for Defence Rao Sikandar Iqbal is likely to be appointed as chairman while Federal Minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao as president of the new party to be named as Pakistan People’s Party, the source said.
The two ministers will announce the decision at a press conference in Islamabad.
A six-member committee would also be constituted that would draw three members each from the two groups to run and manage the affairs of the new People’s Party. It would also prepare a constitution and manifesto of the new party, the source said.
He said existing manifesto of the Benazir-led PPP was likely to be reviewed by incorporating minor changes in it. The new party would be registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The Political Parties Order 2002, barred the parties from registration that were headed by the leaders who were convicted by a court of law. The Benazir-led PPP then floated the People’s Party Parliamentarians and nominated Makhdoom Amin Fahim as its chairman and got itself registered with the election body.
The source was confident that at least 10 MNAs of the Parliamentarians would join the new party. Among the 10, nine are said to from Punjab and one from Sindh.
The PPP-Sherpao has two MNAs and 13 MPAs in the NWFP assembly while the Patriot group has 19 MNAs, and six MPAs in Punjab and three in Sindh.
With the joining of 10 more MNAs, the source said, total strength of the new party would swell to 30 making it one of the major groups in the lower house of parliament.
Various groups of the Muslim League had already been merged into what they called the Pakistan Muslim League.
