ISLAMABAD, March 2: A majority of members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in parliament have expressed lack of confidence in the leadership of acting parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and asked party chief Nawaz Sharif to replace him with a suitable person , sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

They said the PML-N was facing a serious rift due to differences between two groups in the party. The sources said the group led by Chaudhry Nisar was in favour of reconciliation with the government while the other faction headed by Khwaja Saad Rafiq supported a strong resistance movement.

The sources said a group of over 12 MNAs - out of the total 18 - had even decided to write a letter to Nawaz Sharif asking him to remove Chaudhry Nisar from the post of the acting parliamentary leader due to his "anti-party acts."

The sources said the members had suggested the names of Khwaja Asif and Raja Nadir Pervez to replace Chaudhry Nisar. Talking to Dawn, a PML-N MNA alleged that Chaudhry Nisar and Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa wanted to push back the hardliners and reconcile with the government.

He said no meeting of the parliamentary group had been convened by Chaudhry Nisar for over six months. Moreover, he said, Chaudhry Nisar had never gone to see acting party president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi in Adiala Jail during the last 16 months. Besides, he said, Chaudhry Nisar had himself assumed the office of the acting ARD president as he was not nominated by the Alliance after the arrest of Mr Hashmi.

When contacted, Khwaja Saad Rafiq claimed that a majority of the MNAs and other leaders of the party were of the view that Chaudhry Nisar had destroyed the party. He said Chaudhry Nisar should keep in mind that it was not a time for "reconciliatory politics."

He made it clear that only those people would run the party who had rendered sacrifices. Mr Rafiq said those who had not been in the scene for the last three years had now started preparations to contest the elections on the PML-N ticket. He said sincere leaders and activists of the party would not allow anyone to hijack the party.

Meanwhile, the sources said leaders in the anti-Nisar group had been holding meetings in various places in Islamabad for the last two days to devise the future strategy.

They said Saad Rafiq and Tehmina Daultana also held a meeting with Makhdoom Javed Hashmi in Adiala Jail on Wednesday to discuss the issue. Chaudhry Nisar could not be contacted for his comments despite repeated attempts.

HASHMI, GILLANI: Leaders belonging to various political parties on Wednesday visited Adiala Jail to meet ARD president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and former National Assembly speaker Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani, sources told Dawn.

According to sources, Mr Hashmi and Mr Gillani held talks with leaders of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and discussed with them the current political situation in the country.

Prominent among those who visited the jail on Wednesday were former Punjab governor Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar, former PPP MNA Salahuddin Dogar, MMA MNAs Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha and Mohammad Hanif Abbasi and PML-N leaders Tehmina Daultana and Khawaja Saad Rafiq.

The sources said the leaders discussed the political situation in the country with reference to ongoing reconciliation efforts, ARD-MMA cooperation and anti-government movement.