ISLAMABAD, Oct 28: Leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q on Tuesday remained undecided about whether to call a general council meeting for changing the party leadership or wait till its tenure ends in April next year.

A meeting held at the home of Chaudhry Hamid Nasir Chattha, PML-Q’s parliamentary leader in the Punjab Assembly, failed to attract a greater number of leaders than the previous two similar gatherings and the matter was left pending till party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain’s return from abroad.

The participants stressed the need for efforts to placate disgruntled legislators and to keep the party united to prepare for the next elections, which some of them said might be held in two years.

Mr Chattha told reporters that he was not working as an agent for anyone and the purpose of holding meetings with senior leaders was to ponder over ways and means to woo back estranged MNAs, senators and MPAs of the party by removing their grievances against the leadership.

PML-Q information secretary Senator Tariq Azeem told Dawn that Chaudhry Shujaat’s term as the party president would end early next year and any move to oust the leadership did not make sense.

Party sources said the leaders discussed various proposals for keeping the PML-Q united and they would be conveyed to Chaudhry Shujaat on his return in a couple of days.

They said it was proposed that if any MNAs had reservations against the party’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, Faisal Saleh Hayat, the issue of electing a new leader should be put before the parliamentary group.

Makhdoom Faisal said he had offered to the party to quit the post because it had no attraction for him.

He said Mr Chattha had adopted a reconciliatory tone because some party leaders had told him that there was no need to create tension on an issue which could be settled by mutual understanding. MNA Amir Muqam, the PML-Q’s NWFP chief, opposed a debate on change of leadership at a time when the party’s president was out of the country. “I told them that a forward bloc already exists and if you will try to hold such meetings separately it will further divide the party.”

Those who attended the meeting included Gohar Ayub Khan, Salim Saifullah Khan, Nisar Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Ali Durrani, Amir Muqam, Akram Zaki, Mehnaz Rafi, Yaqoot Jamilur Rahman, Azim Chaudhry, Asia Azeem, Bilal Azeem, Amna Salim, Sardar Iqbal, Humayun Akhtar Khan and Iqbal Dar.

Senator Nisar Memon, Senator Ghaffar Qureshi and MNA Riaz Fatyana did not turn up despite having been invited.