LAHORE, March 2: Pir Pagara is going to resign as president of the PML (Functional) at a meeting of the party’s general council here on Sunday.

Some party leaders say that the council might reject the resignation out of hand and request the Pir, now 74, to continue to lead the party as he has been doing ever since the revival of the party following an injunction of the Supreme Court more than a decade ago.

Under the PML constitution, a new president has to be elected within 45 days of the resignation at a special session called for the purpose. Since the Sunday session had not been called for the election of a new president, there was no question of the party choosing a new president or re-electing Pir, Joint Secretary Sheikh Sirajuddin said on Saturday.

Vice-President Barrister Sultan Mahmood took a copy of the party constitution to Pir Pagara and read the relevant section which, according to him, meant that the council could re-elect him there and then.

The Pir said while addressing a meeting of the party’s central working committee that he wanted to hold party elections as the Election Commission wanted all parties to choose their representatives before the general elections in October.

He said he would present before the general council a report which would be an eye-opener for everybody. He said the election of a new president of the Functional Muslim League would not have any bearing on efforts being made for the unification of different factions. He said groups desirous of unification would constitute an ad hoc council which would elect a new president.

He said he did not recognize the PML-QA as a party and thus it had been excluded from the ambit of merger. They are deserters from the PML-N, having no political identity, said the Sindhi leader with impressions of contempt visible on his face for PML-QA leaders.

The Pir said so far he had not given any instructions to the party for the October elections as a decision would be taken only after the delimitation of constituencies.

He said the PPP and religious parties stood no chance in the future. He predicted that the rulers would reduce the PPP to a non-entity.

Still, he did not rule out the possibility of adjustments in Sindh with the PPP. He said an alliance was out of question as such an arrangement committed the allies to stay together even after the polls.

Sheikh Sirajuddin said other factions of the PML would have to come to Pir Pagara to seek his support to be able to play any role on the political scene. Those being patronized by the rulers at present would fail to deliver, he said.

Rana Muhammad Ashraf Khan, Sheikh Anwar Saeed, Malik Altaf Janjua and Begum Afifa Mamdot were also present at the meeting.