LAHORE, Feb 29: Pakistan People’s Party Punjab President Imtiaz Safdar Warraich has short-listed candidates for the slot of party’s provincial information secretary without consulting his deputy Samiullah Khan in this regard.

The post fell vacant last week after Dr Fakharuddin Chaudhry joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Mr Warraich told Dawn on Wednesday that he had forwarded three names to the party co-chairman, President Asif Ali Zardari, for appointment against the vacant slot.

PPP Punjab Secretary-General Samiullah Khan, when contacted, said the president (Warraich) had not consulted him while finalising the candidates’ list.

“I was supposed to be consulted,” he added.

According to a party source, PPP Punjab deputy sectary-general Usman Salim Malik and adviser to the governor Munawar Anjum are among the short-listed candidates.

Mr Malik, a PPP ticket-holder from Lahore, is the brother of slain PPP leader Zafar Malik. “Apart from being a party loyalist, Mr Malik enjoys the backing of central leadership, while Mr Anjum had been media coordinator to Benazir Bhutto,” the source said, adding that after Mr Fakhar’s embarrassing departure from the PPP, the party was keen on appointing a trustworthy person against the slot.