KARACHI, July 15: After making hectic efforts to narrow down differences between Chief Minister Dr Arbab Rahim and the aggrieved party colleagues and coalition partners in Sindh, PML-Q Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayied returned to Islamabad on Saturday morning.
Immediately after arriving in the city at Friday noon, he started contacting every party man having any complaint against the chief minister and remained busy in sorting out their problems till 2.30 am on Saturday. Besides listening to their grievances, he did his level best to soothe the angry colleagues and convince them to resume supporting Dr Arbab as the provincial chief of the PML-Q and the chief minister.
However, the only breakthrough he definitely achieved was to convince Dr Arbab’s arch rival, Imtiaz Sheikh, to take the first step towards a patch-up by visiting the CM’s House. Mr Sheikh, who had been sacked as minister and removed as general secretary of the PML’s provincial set up by Dr Arbab, had earlier been declining to meet the chief minister.
He is one of the contenders of the top party slot in Sindh. Mr Hussain managed to bring the two rivals face to face and acted as mediator at the meeting. PML circles believe that
Mr Hussain had, on behalf of the chief minister, assured Mr Sheikh that the latter’s demand for the implementation of the agreement between him and the Dr Arbab would be met and the results would be visible within the next 15 days. The agreement had been reached through the good offices of Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro.
Mr Sheikh has also been assured that his ‘Sheikh group’ would be accommodated in the party’s provincial hierarchy and his ‘victimised fellows’ would be rehabilitated politically, the party sources said, adding that taking the Sheikh group into confidence with regard to the implementation of development schemes in Shikarpur district was also promised.
Mr Sheikh also got the assurance that the implementation of the agreement would be monitored locally by Sardar Nadir Akmal Khan Leghari, secretary general of the PML Sindh, who would submit his report to the party’s high command in Islamabad.
The crucial meeting, held late in the night, lasted over 50 minutes and among those present were Federal Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani, Sindh Irrigation Minister Nadir Akmal Leghari and PML Additional Secretary General Iqbal Dar. Although the meeting emerged fruitful as Mr Sheikh appeared convinced to end hostilities with the chief minister, it fell short of making the two rivals shake hand and hug each other as per Sindh’s tradition.
Mr Hussain, who had initiated the reconciliation efforts reportedly under a mandate from President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and PML Chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, could succeed in convincing the two other major groups, Jatois and Mehars, to shun their differences with the chief minister. Political circles believe that these two groups continued to insist on indulgence of the party’s central high command to address their grievances. (More)
Sardar Ali Gohar Mehar, who leads the Mehar group, is in Islamabad for a scheduled meeting with President Musharraf.
However, the district level leaders of the PML met Mr Hussain and sought his intervention in sorting out their mutual differences. They include office-bearers in Jacobabad , Sukkur, Ghotki, Hyderabad, Shikarpur, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Naushehro Feroz and Thatta.
Prominent among those who met Mr Hussain were Begum Saeeda Soomro, Sardar Manzoor Panhwar, Dr Sohrab Serki, Haji Khan Chachar, Raees Khair Mohammed Bhurgari, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Asad Khan Junejo, Mir Murtaza Jatoi, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Ghulam Quadir Malkani, Ejaz Ali Shah and Shafquat Shah Shirazi.
The prime objective of Mr Hussain’s visit was to remove differences among aspirants for party offices in Sindh in order to pave the way for putting up consensus candidates in the party election. And the very objective could not be achieved in the visit. If all goes well and according to the understanding reached between the chief minister and group leaders through his mediation efforts, Mr Hussain would either have to visit Sindh again or summon many of the contestants to Islamabad for another round of hectic efforts towards achieving the objective.
While Dr Arbab Rahim will try to retain the party’s top provincial slot in Sindh, Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh and Sardar Ali Gohar Khan Mehar would seek the slot for the next tenure. The chief minister and his main rivals have also nominated their favourites as new general secretary.
They are Ghaffar Qureshi (Arbab group), Sadaquat Ali Jatoi (Mehar group) and Alim Adil Shaikh (Sheikh group).
