LAHORE: The General Council of the United Democratic Front today [May 9] unanimously re-elected Pir Sahib of Pagaro and Prof Ghafoor Ahmad as President and Secre­tary-General of the Front and appointed a joint Central Parliamentary Board. The Cou­ncil also approved the outlines of a joint manifesto and set up a six-member Committee with Mr Qasim Malik as Convener to prepare the draft in the light of the outlines and manifestos of the component parties. The unanimous decisions appear to be the outcome of the lengthy meeting of the heads of the six component parties which lasted till late last night under the chairmanship of Makh­doom­zada Hasan Mahmood and was resumed this morning… . The General Council met only after the matters had been settled at the chiefs’ meetings.

The impression one gathers [is] that the heads of the components of the Front succeeded in tiding over the crisis over the question of expansion or reorganisation of the Front and the compromise that emerged was that Pir Sahib of Pagaro should arrange meeting of the heads of the component parties and the opposition organisations that are outside its fold “at an appropriate time”. — Lahore Bureau

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2026