ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Nawaz Sharif on Thursday constituted a special committee of the party to contact other parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to discuss modalities regarding possible seat adjustments for the forthcoming elections, Dawn has learnt.
The committee to be headed by former chief minister of the province Pir Sabir Shah was constituted by Mr Sharif while presiding over a meeting of the office-bearers of the party from the province at Punjab House here.
Opposition leaders in the National Assembly and Senate Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Ishaq Dar respectively also attended the meeting during which participants expressed serious concern about the state of affairs in the party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Sources said Mr Sharif expressed annoyance at reports that the party had been facing rifts in more than 50 per cent of thedistricts in the province over trivial disputes.
They said the special committee had been tasked with visiting all districts in an effort to resolve differences within party ranks so that PML-N could contest the next elections in an organised manner.
The sources said other members of the committee were Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, Amir Muqam, Khawaja Mohammad Khan Hoti and Salahuddin Tirmazi.
They said Mr Jhagra, central secretary general of the party, and Mehtab Ahmad would represent the party’s central organisation in the panel.
The sources said the committee had been authorised to talk to all parties except Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to look into possibilities of electoral alliances at tehsil, district and provincial levels and that it would submit its recommendations to the party’s central leadership in light of their meetings.
They said the committee had been asked to complete its task within the shortest possible span of time since elections were only a few weeks away.
The PML-N has already invited applications from the aspiring candidates for elections by March 5 on a specified form that could be obtained from its Model Town office in Lahore, Central Secretariat in Islamabad and provincial offices in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
The aspirant candidates for PML-N ticket have been asked to give details of their previous political affiliations, date of joining PML-N, political and social services (if any) and role in restoration of democracy and previous electoral performance.Besides this, the aspiring candidates will also have to justify their suitability for the constituency they are applying for.