PESHAWAR, Nov 5: Pakistan Muslim League's chances in the upcoming elections in Malakand Agency for a National Assembly seat on December 15 are at stake because of differences within the party's provincial cadre , according to sources.

The PML is set to kick off its election campaign in Malakand after Ramazan. Salim Saifullah Khan has been given PML's ticket for NA-35. Mr Saifullah's dispute with PML provincial president Agha Syed Ali Shah over the provincial leadership has left the PML divided into two blocs in the NWFP.

Office-bearers of the party, when contacted, rejected the impression that differences within the ranks of the party would affect their campaign for NA-35. However, some of the PML leaders were not so optimistic.

Sources said that Agha Syed Ali Shah was not happy over the nomination of Salim Saifullah for NA-35 by the party's high command - an impression Mr Shah rejected when contacted by Dawn.

"My consent was taken at the time of awarding party ticket to him (Salim Saifullah Khan)," said Mr Shah. Without denying his differences with Mr Saifullah, he said that he would support him in the upcoming elections 'in the larger interest of the party'.

"Mr Salim Saifullah is a consensus candidate of the PML, and I would personally supervise his election campaign," said Mr Shah. "Whether our differences are resolved or not I would stand by him in the interest of the PML," he said.

Wajih-uz-Zaman, general-secretary of the NWFP PML, said that the party leaders should keep their differences aside when it comes to safeguarding the party's interests.

He expressed the hope that differences between the two 'groups' would not harm the party's election campaign. "I am supporting Mr Saifullah, and we would start canvassing after Eid and I am hopeful that everything would go well," he said when asked about the internal differences' likely impact on the campaign.

In reply to a question why a leader from a southern district of the NWFP was awarded the ticket for a constituency that lied in the northern part of the province, Mr Zaman said, "Mr Saifullah was preferred over local leaders because the party needed a wealthy candidate to carry out an effective campaign there."