KHAIRPUR/SUKKUR, May 16: Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) president Pir Pagaro has said that the unified Muslim League will not last long because some people have joined it only for a share in power.

Talking to journalists in Pir Jo Goth on Sunday before the arrival of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Pir Pagaro said that he had called for unity of different PML factions and not for their merger.

He said that his faction had differences over provincial posts of the unified PML and some organizational matters. He said he had proposed that President Gen Pervez Musharraf should be made the chairman of the unified PML and Prime Minister Jamali as secretary-general. But, he added, some people were of the opinion that government and party posts should be held by different people.

At a lunch he gave for Sindh Chief Minister Sardar Ali Muhammad Mahar, Pir Pagaro said there were serious differences on the issue of party offices and the PML constitution. When it was pointed out that Prime Minister Jamali himself had withdrawn his candidature for the post of secretary general, Pir Pagaro said: "Who is he to take it back; we had nominated him."

He said Mr Mahar also had been nominated by him because as chief minister he would be in a better position to handle the responsibility of the PML in Sindh effectively.

Eventually, he said, the chief executive would have to become the president of the PML, adding that the matter was now in the court of an arbitrator whose verdict would have to be accepted by all.

Talking about ARD, he said the alliance had no future in national politics. Answering a question about Mian Shahbaz Sharif, he said that the government had taken a soft line by deporting him instead of sending him to jail.

He severely criticized the MQM for what he called its interference in the Sanghar by-election and called upon President Musharraf to take stern action against the party.

The PML-F chief alleged that the Sanghar by-election had been rigged and a provincial minister had stuffed ballot boxes. He said that his party had photographs to prove it.

Later, Mr Jamali who came for a brief visit told journalists that PML was now a unified party and Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain was its president. He said that party posts should not be obstacles to PML's unity.