LAHORE, July 18: President Pervez Musharraf has told PML(QA) leaders that former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto, Mian Nawaz Sharif and former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif are not returning home nor will they be allowed to contest the elections, Mian Muhammad Azhar told reporters here on Thursday.
The PML-QA chief said all reports about the possible return home of the Sharifs were baseless.
Replying to a question, he said his party was of the view that there was no need to hold election for the central and provincial presidents of his party as they were unanimously elected only in March last year.
The Political Parties Order, issued recently, was in conflict with the PML constitution but the party would meet all requirements of the law to be able to take part in the elections, the former Punjab governor said.
He said he had rejected the resignation of Mr Gohar Ayub Khan as secretary-general of the party and had asked him to continue to discharge his duties. He said the former foreign minister was an asset for the party and he would not like to lose him.
Replying to a question, Mian Azhar said the general elections were always held under the supervision of the army and the precedent would be followed in the October elections.
He dismissed reports published in a section of the press that Punjab PML-QA President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had held secret meetings with senior bureaucrats of the province to discuss with them matters concerning the elections. He said the bureaucracy was duty-bound to solve the genuine problems of all people and parties and anybody could approach relevant officials. About the unification of various factions of the PML, Mian Azhar said no progress had been made despite several rounds of talks held for the purpose.
Meanwhile, leaders of the PML-QA held a meeting under the chairmanship of Mian Azhar at the residence of Syed Fakhr Imam on Thursday and discussed their preparations for the elections.
Party position in the provinces of Sindh and the Punjab came under discussion.
Ghous Bux Mehr, Khurshid Kasuri, Sikandar Malhi, Haleem Siddiqui, Col (retd) Ghulam Sarwar Cheema, Neelofer Bakhtiar, Mansoor Hayat Tamman and Azeem Chaudhry were present.
Party sources say that the participants were told that the PML-QA was in a position to put up strong candidates at 10 out of 20 NA seats in Karachi. These candidates would enjoy the support of business community. Party position in cities of Hyderabad, Sanghar, Sukkur and Nawabshah was also satisfactory, a participant said after the meeting.
It is said that the PML-QA will make adjustments with the Functional Muslim League and the Sindh Democratic Alliance, according to the situation in various constituencies. In Punjab, it is said, the party has strong candidates for 118 constituencies.