ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: The central executive committee of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League will meet here on Monday to discuss the overall political situation, including issues related to Balochistan, party sources told Dawn.

The meeting was earlier planned in Quetta.

PLM president Chaudhry Shujaat will preside over the meeting.

A group of senior leaguers, led by Majeed Malik, had held a series of meetings before and soon after the killing of former governor Nawab Akbar Bugti and demanded that the party chief should immediately convene a meeting its top brass to discuss the volatile situation in Balochistan.

The discussion will focus on the issue in light of the recent meeting of the parliamentary sub-committee led by Wasim Sajjad to determine and re-demarcate the precincts of provincial autonomy through transfer of more powers to the provinces.

The party leaders would discuss the political situation with particular reference to the MMA-government standoff over the Women’s Protection Act and the next elections, the sources said.

Meanwhile, CEC member Sayed Kabir Ali Wasti has announced that he will boycott the meeting because the party has failed to respond to the situation in Balochistan immediately after the death of Nawab Bugti. He said any decision at this stage would only be an afterthought.

He urged the party leadership to demand release of all political prisoners in Balochistan, open dialogue with its representatives and take immediate steps to give maximum autonomy to the province, including empowering the chief minister.