PESHAWAR, May 14: Differences among local leaders over nomination of the coordination committee have blocked the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid reorganisation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Some senior PML-Q leaders, who spoke to Dawn on condition of anonymity, have said their central leadership, especially president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, had failed to make plans for strengthening the party in the province as Punjab was the focus of its attention.
They said they informed Mr Shujaat about provincial president Amir Muqam’s exit in advance but he didn’t bother replacing him forcing many of top leaders to quit the party in frustration.
According to them, the central leadership has yet to convene a meeting of locals leaders to discuss the party’s future in the province.
“Our workers are in a shock after the departure of a large number of people to PML-N along with Amir Muqam,” a PML-Q leader said.
Mr Muqam quit PML-Q to join PML-N on April 6 and Mushahid Hussain Syed was the first central leader of the party to visit Peshawarthereafter. He reached the provincial capital on April 7 and spoke to a news conference at the residence of local leader Intikhab Chamkani.
According to senior PML-Q leaders, since they were kept in the dark about Mr Mushahid’s unannounced visit, they preferred to boycott it.
Mr Intikhab insisted he hosted a reception for Mr Mushahid on his election as Senator and that it was not a party meeting. He said leaders of the party and its sister organisations from across the province showed up in large numbers.
Participants didn’t take steps for the party’s reorganisation. After the meeting, only an announcement about the formation of a coordination committee to hold meetings and plan reorganisation came. Woman MPA Nighat Orakzai was made the chief of the committee.
When contacted, PML-Q general secretary Mushtaq Ghani expressed dissatisfaction about the course taken by the leadership for the party’s reorganisation. He told Dawn that he had become silent and adopted a wait and see policy.
“I have some personal things to do and have no time to hold party office,” he said.
Mr Mushtaq admitted that the party faced internal crisis as Mr Muqam was in fact a man of high stature in the party and the vacuum could be filled only when a man of his stature came forward.
He dispelled the impression that he was not ready to work under a woman (Ms Nighat) and said the central leadership didn’t consult him on the coordination committee.
“I tried thrice to meet (party chief) Chaudhry Shujaat in Islamabad but failed and therefore, decided to become silent,” he said.
According to the PML-Q leader, the only way to remove differences and reorganise the party, the leadership should convene a meeting to seek opinion of workers and name office-bearers instead of forming coordination committees.
He said even after one and a half month of its formation, the coordination committee had yet to hold its first meeting and that key leaders weren’t contacted for advice on the party’s reorganisation.
However, Ms Nighat said she had ‘very successfully’ organised a party event at Nishtar Hall on May 1 where party president Chaudhry Shujaat and other central leaders spoke to a crowd of thousands of workers.
“I have learnt that Justice Azam and Mushtaq Ghani are not ready to cooperate with me but even then, I respect them from the core of my heart,” she said, adding that the visit of Mr Shujaat would prove very beneficial for the party in the province.About the party’sreorganisation, she said the committee would send proposals to the central leadership for implementation.
Ms Nighat said preparations for the next elections would be decided in consultation with the rest of leaders in their respective areas.