15 May 2004	Saturday	24 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD May 14: The (unified) Pakistan Muslim League will be run on an ad-hoc basis without its vital office-bearers and without an approved constitution at least till May 21 when the National Alliance will merge with the party, informed sources told Dawn.

Another general council of the party will be a requirement for the approval of party constitution as well as endorsement of the office-bearers after their nomination by the party president.

The new party will also be faced with some legal lacunas in the days ahead when it will apply for its registration to the election commission and will go for election of its office-bearers. Similarly, the government will have to amend the Political Parties Order soon through an ordinance to allow party and public office together so that the three party chief ministers continue to hold party offices.

Meanwhile, the (dissolved) PML-Q vice-president Syed Kabir Ali Wasti said if the reservations of a group in the party were not removed, it might launch the a new party.

Talking to Dawn he said, "we will wait till the election of new office-bearers and if our point of view was not accommodated we will take legal course."

He said an affective group in the party was angry with the working of prime minister Jamali, who had spent Rs1.5 billion in his constituency while other MNAs were given Rs10 million each.

Mr Wasti said Wednesday's meeting at PML house was a public rally of party workers, who were brought by different factions from across the country to show their strength but certainly it was not the general council meeting.

He said if it was general council then how foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri entered the venue along with his workers, who had arrived from Kasur in 42 coaches. He said under the circumstances he might take over the PML-Q as its acting president any time and claimed a good number of hardcore party workers would support him.

Mr Wasti said the PML would expect at least 90% representation in the cabinet.

The PML-F faction leadership will however stress on accommodation of their nominees as they had given up the chase on the assurance from no less than the president's camp to which they described as 'arbiter'.

A sizeable section of the PML-Q faction leaders, including few MNAs were of the view that the Wednesday's gathering of different league workers was not a proper meeting of the general council since there was no list of members provided to the organizers nor there was any registration of delegates.

They, therefore, suspect the legality of the resolution passed by the meeting which authorizes Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to amend the constitution drafted by the joint constitution committee, headed by Senator S. M. Zafar.