LAHORE, Nov 13: Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said on Sunday the Pakistan Muslim League’s general council had elected him the party president and only the council could remove him or hold him accountable through a procedure given in the PML constitution.

Talking to this reporter at his residence, he said activities of a few MNAs amounted to violation of party discipline but he was not taking any action against them as more serious problems facing the country required attention.

He said he would not like to give much importance to the subject or the people would start cursing the ruling party for ignoring the earthquake victims and focussing on petty matters.

Mr Hussain said he was willing to look into grievances of those who had elected him party chief. But, he regretted, that some ‘faceless’ people were claiming to have formed what they called a ‘forward bloc.’

He said except for two or three legislators who were issuing statements, the rest did not have the courage to come into the open.

When suggested that the silence of the president and the prime minister over the issue might have encouraged PML lawmakers to issue statements against him, he said Gen Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz were dealing with more important national issues at present.

He said once the two were in a position to spare some time from other engagements, he would take the ‘dissidents’ to them so that they could present their case before them.

He said the elements issuing statements against him were doing so for their personal interests.

When asked about the demand that Gen Musharraf should become president of the party, Mr Hussain said this was not the right time to make such demands.

Asked if the president had discussed with him the situation within the party, the PML chief said a few days ago the president had discussed with him matters about passports of the exiled Sharif family but he did not say a word about the views being expressed by a few people against him.

For President Musharraf, he said, national issues were more important than the PML’s.