PESHAWAR, Aug 5: Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao has said his faction of the Pakistan People’s Party will support Gen Pervez Musharraf’s re-election as president from the existing assemblies.

Speaking at a party gathering after being elected chairman of the PPP-S here on Sunday, Mr Sherpao said the presidential election would be held between Sept 15 and Oct 15.

About the Pakistan-Afghanistan grand jirga, he said President Gen Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai would take part in the event. He said the event would be second of its kind in history after the one held by Ahmad Shah Abdali. He said the jirga would focus on ending the conflict inside Afghanistan and restoring peace in Pakistan.

He deplored the refusal by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to participate in the jirga, saying this had exposed his credentials vis-a-vis progress in the two countries. He said his party would unmask the real face of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal soon.

He also criticised the Awami National Party, saying its leadership had ignored the invasion of Afghanistan by the then Soviet Union and now they had adopted silence over the plight of Pukhtuns.

Earlier, Mr Sherpao was elected chairman and Minister for State Aneesazeb Tahirkheli secretary-general of the PPP-S. A former district nazim of Nowshera, Pervez Khan Khattak, and MPA Sikandar Hayat Sherpao were re-elected provincial president and general secretary, respectively.

MNA Sher Akbar Khan and MPA Makhdoom Mureed Kazim were elected central vice-presidents.

Habibur Rehman Tanoli, Nazar Hussain Kiani, Ehsanullah Khan and Senator Shujaul Mulk were elected central deputy secretary-general, information secretary, joint secretary and finance secretary, respectively.

Ghaniur Rehman Khan was elected provincial senior vice-president and Alamzeb Umerzai, Jamshed Khan, Malik Mohammad Baz Khan, Abdul Malik Khan, Israrullah Khan Gandapur and Akhtar Hussain Shah were elected vice-presidents.

Bakht Bedar Khan, Fazalur Rehman Nono, Bedar Hussain Shah, Malik Zarawar, Syed Kamal Shah, Irfanullah Shah, Sadullah Shah, Gul Zamin Khan and Mohammad Ali were elected additional general secretary, deputy general secretary, information secretary, publicity secretary, finance secretary and joint secretary, respectively. Faqir Hussain was elected in-charge of the party’s provincial secretariat.

Zafar Iqbal Awan, Abdur Rehman Khan Babbli and Sheikh Haroon Riaz were elected president, general secretary and information secretary, respectively, for Punjab.

The election process was conducted by the party’s election commission headed by Senator Haji Ghufran.