ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: Five Muslim League factions on Wednesday decided to unite and to have Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain as leader of the unified league.

The factions are: Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) led by Chaudhry Shujaat, PML (Functional) of Pir Pagara, PML (Junejo) of Hamid Nasir Chattha, PML (Jinnah) of Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, and PML (Zia) of Ijazul Haq.

Announcing the merger at a press conference here, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said all the affixes attached to the PML such as J, F, Q, and Z had ceased to exist, and the party would be called as Pakistan Muslim League.

Asked if the PML-N too was invited for merger talks, the prime minister said the invitation to them would be extended at an “appropriate” time.

Mr Jamali said there was a proposal for making President Gen Pervez Musharraf president of the PML but it was decided “not to involve him in politics”. He said it was a political decision and hoped that it would augur well for the country.

Asked if President Musharraf was consulted, he said the decision had the backing of the president. Pir Syed Mardan Shah, commonly known as Pir Pagara, said his suggestion that Gen Musharraf should be made president of the PML was not accepted by the “arbiter”. He did not elaborate.

Sources said it was only after the personal intervention by President Musharraf that the merger decision was finalized as the PML factions were not coming to terms even after hours of deliberations.

Mr Jamali said the PML unification was a good omen for the nation as it would provide “direction to the country.”

Asked if the provincial set-ups of the now-merged factions stood disbanded, there was no direct reply either from the prime minister or Chaudhry Shujaat. “We will sit together and decide everything democratically,” they said.

Mr Jamali said there was no written agreement for the merger and it was all verbal. “We all honour our words,” he added.

Chaudhry Shujaat said heading the united PML was an onerous duty which he would try to fulfil to the best of his abilities.

He said it was a unique development in Pakistan’s history that five factions of the PML had merged into one.

Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed, who is being tipped as secretary-general of the new PML, brought the press conference to an abrupt end when reporters started asking probing questions.

The information minister later told the official media that all offices in the party at every level, except the president, had been dissolved.

He said the credit for the PML unification went to Prime Minister Jamali.