ISLAMABAD, March 7: A meeting held on Sunday for unifying five Pakistan Muslim League factions and Imtiaz Sheikh's group of the Sindh Democratic Alliance remained inconclusive due to what the sources said were legal hurdles.
The distribution of party offices is also said to be holding up any meaningful progress in this regard. Each of the merging factions is said to have desired a quota of cabinet posts commensurate with its political clout.
PML (Quaid-i-Azam) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who presided over the meeting of the organizing committee for the unification at the residence of PML (Functional) chief organizer Kanwar Qutbuddin, when asked if the unified party would have a new secretary-general, shot back: "What is wrong with the present one."
He, however, skipped a planned press briefing and left the venue immediately after dinner, saying that he was not in a position to announce anything definite since the consultation was continuing. The committee will meet again on Monday.
Chaudhry Shujaat, who had returned in the morning from Germany after a medical checkup, hoped to wrap up the unification process before the National Assembly session due to begin on Monday, sources said.
The main legal adviser to the unifying factions, Senator S.M. Zafar could reach here from Lahore due to his personal engagements. He is expected to be available for Monday's meeting.
Besides Chaudhry Shujaat, the meeting was attended by acting president Sultan Mohammad Khan, Senator Razzaq Thaheem and Kanwar Qutbuddin of the PML-F; PML-Q Secretary-General Salim Saifullah Khan; Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo of the PML (Jinnah); Hamid Nasir Chattha of the PML (Junejo) and Imtiaz Sheikh.
Talking to newsmen, Sultan Mohammad and Senator Thaheem said their party being the second largest among the five factions deserved to be given the offices of senior vice-president and the secretary-general in the unified League. They also mentioned the ministerial and house committee chairmen's slots their group would like to have.
Kanwar Qutbuddin, however, said: "We have taken positive strides forward in today's meeting as all the faction leaders were of the considered opinion that the reunification process should be taken forward and completed as early as possible."
He said the leaders were trying to overcome the legal lacunae in the way of the unification and complete the process in accordance with the Political Parties Act keeping in mind the observations made on the matter by the Election Commission.
He said all the factions had reposed their confidence in the wisdom of Senator Zafar. Ijazul Haq of the PML (Zia), who could not reach the meeting in time, claimed that none of the leaders had demanded party offices as a condition for the unification. He said they had forwarded their lists of candidates for party offices to the party president for selection at his discretion.
