ISLAMABAD Jan 15: President of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q), Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, on Wednesday formed a seven-member committee led by party Secretary-General Salim Saifullah Khan for framing a strategy to tackle the issue of some 50,000 US Pakistanis.

A press release issued here reads that the committee’s initial job is to draft a letter to be sent to the US president, a copy of which will be handed over to the US envoy in Islamabad, Nancy Powell.

The body comprises of Gen Majeed Malik, Gohar Ayub Khan, Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gillani, Azeem Chaudhry, Syed Kabir Ali Wasti and Mohammad Ayub Khattak.

First meeting of the committee has been scheduled for Jan 16, with Salim Saifullah Khan in the chair, here at the Muslim League House.

A high-level meeting of the PML-Q on Monday had decided to address the issue of American Pakistanis by writing a letter to US President Bush.

Initially, the job of drafting the letter was assigned to the former secretary-general of the party, Gohar Ayub Khan, but he declined, saying that he was busy in preparing for taking BA examinations.