Dissenting voices ‘silenced’: Shujaat: PML task force on local council polls issue soon
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, May 14: The senior leadership of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) at a crucial meeting on Saturday discussed differences in the party ranks over the issue of the local council elections and organizational matters and decided to set up a task force to address the issue. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and heads of the merged factions were among the 41 leaders, representing the four provinces, who attended the meeting which was dubbed as the Central Executive Committee, though no formal announcement about the CEC has ever been made.
PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain told a press conference later that dissenting voices in the party had been ‘silenced’ as the dissidents had said ‘sorry’ to him after getting prompt response to their complaints. Insiders, however, said that ‘everything was not okay’ as the meeting had failed to reach consensus on the demands of various groups regarding the ensuing local council polls.
Notably, the leaders of the dissolved factions and parties — Mian Manzoor Wattoo, Sardar Farooq Leghari and Hamid Nasir Chattha — did not turn up at the press conference. However, Mushahid Hussain Sayed and Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq were present on the occasion. Mr Chattha and Sardar Leghari left the CEC meeting in the middle while Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed took leave to attend another engagement.
Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali kept away from the meeting despite an invitation and a personal request by Mr Chattha, Mr Haq, Manzoor Wattoo and Salim Saifullah Khan who had called on him at his Balochistan House abode on Friday.
Mr Jamali told his visitors that unless Chaudhry Shujaat redressed his reservations by meeting him along with Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to discuss contentious issues between them he would not participate in any party meetings. Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yusuf and Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim Khan as well as the latter’s political rival and provincial general secretary Imtiaz Sheikh also attended the meeting. Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi could not make it owing to a prior family engagement.
At the meeting, both Mr Rahim, who is president of the Sindh PML, and Mr Imtiaz Sheikh demanded each other’s removal from the party office. A senior vice-president of the party and Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan was also conspicuous by his absence at the meeting. Reportedly, he is not maintaining good relations with the Chaudhrys on the issues concerning the district government of Lahore. He did come to Islamabad in the morning but returned back to Lahore after a few hours.
The meeting decided to set up a task force in the leadership of Chaudhry Shujaat. The task force will sort out the complaints of various interest groups in several districts in the country, particularly Punjab. Sources said the task force would guide the provincial party organizations in nomination of the heads of councils at various tiers to satisfy all the interest groups.
Talking to reporters belonging to official electronic media, Prime Minister Aziz said there was complete solidarity in the party and that there were no differences in its ranks.
“All party leaders attended today’s meeting and it was held in the most cordial atmosphere,” he said. He said it had been decided to hold the CEC meeting every month to discuss steps for activating the party. He dismissed as untrue the suggestion that party’s popularity graph had been declining.
Earlier, the premier in his speech at the meeting took the party into confidence on the steps the government had taken to ensure economic growth. Chaudhry Shujaat told reporters after the five-hour meeting that the party had emerged united despite attempts by ‘some people to create rift in it’.
He said he gave an open invitation to the participating leaders to vent their grievances and speak their minds and added that when they got prompt replies from him and the secretary-general (Mushahid Hussain Sayed) they said “they had misread the situation and they were sorry”. The meeting decided that the party manifesto would be re-written by a committee headed by Senator S.M. Zafar.
Chaudhry Shujaat parried the question about some party leaders’ complaints that the PML was being run by himself and Mr Mushahid. He played down demands for setting up the party’s general council, central working committee and parliamentary board, saying these were not the issues at hand.
Chaudhry Shujaat recalled his meeting with President Musharraf on Thursday during which among things he had discussed the issue of the implementation of 7th Wage Board Award and got a nod on going ahead.
Prominent among those who attended the meeting were Asad Muhammad Junejo, Salim Saifullah Khan, Gen Majeed Malik, Nisar Muhammad Khan, Sardar Yusuf, Syed Ali Shah, Naseer Mengal and Tariq Azeem.
