July 09, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 23, 1428

VEHARI, July 8: The rift between two groups of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) is deepening day by day and a three-member committee formed by Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi a month ago to end the rift has failed in accomplishing the assigned task.

According to the information collected by Dawn, the Vehari PML is divided into two groups — one lead by former district nazim Mumtaz Khan Khichi from Mailsi tehsil and the other by incumbent District Nazim Syed Shahid Mehdi Naseem from Burewala tehsil. Khichi’s defeat at the hands of Naseem in the district nazim election in 2005 sowed the seed for the ongoing rift.

The rift further deepened when Vehari Tehsil Nazim Mian Saqib Khursheed announced that he would contest the upcoming election for the National Assembly seat from NA-169 against incumbent National Assembly Member (MNA) Aftab Khichi. It has been learnt that Khichi had won the 2002 election with Khursheed’s help.

In the backdrop of this situation, local PML workers asked the chief minister to settle these intra-party differences.

The chief minister formed a committee consisting of Mumtaz Khichi, Naseem and former Punjab Assembly speaker Saeed Ahmed Manais a month ago to heal the rift within a month. One month has passed, but there is no reconciliation in sight between these groups.

The committee members said they were trying to settle the differences and added that reconciliation was expected in next few days.

But PML workers said they were dissatisfied with the committee’s working. They said cracks in the PML were becoming more evident in the election year due to non-political attitude of some parliamentarians.

On the other hand, former MNA Qurban Ali Chohan from Burewala and his son Khalid Chohan, a member of the Punjab Assembly (MPA), have joined the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), one of the strongest rivals of the ruling party. The development has increased PPP’s chances of success in the next general election, Vehari PPP President Mehmood Hayat Tochi Khan said.

Qurban joined PPP in 1993 and was elected MNA. He was elected PPP district president in 2002. In the 2002 general election, he refused a party ticket for MNA slot from Burewala because the party did not consult him on distribution of tickets for the provincial assembly seats. In this election he supported PML candidate Nazir Ahmed Jutt for the MNA slot and got his son elected MPA from PP-235 Machiwal as an independent candidate. Qurban did not join the PML after leaving the PPP, but his son joined the ruling party after a meeting with Pervaiz Elahi.

On June 26, both Qurban and his son joined the PPP at a ceremony in Lahore. This development is being seen beneficial for a beleaguered Tochi Khan.

RAIN: Heavy rain has hit Vehari district. The rain, which started at noon on Saturday, continued till Sunday evening, inundating low-lying residential areas and key roads in 9-11/WB, City area, People’s Colony, Masani Bagh, Danywal, Muslim Town, Luddan, Thingi, Karampur, Jalla Jeem, Tibba Sultanpur, Garah Morr, Chakrala, Pipli Stop and parts of Burewala and Mailsi tehsils. During the rain, electricity remained suspended and the sewerage system collapsed. Seven mud houses collapsed in Luddan due to the rain, however no casualties were reported from any part of the district.