‘F’, ‘Likeminded’, ‘Z’ and AML make alliance
KARACHI: Four factions of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) on Friday decided to leave the idea of a merger for now and instead agreed to form an alliance under the banner of the Muttahida Muslim League (MML), with the status of every member remaining intact as a separate party.
The new alliance was formed at a meeting of senior leaders of four PML factions – the PML-Functional, the PML-Likeminded, PML-Z and the Awami Muslim League – held at the Kingri House under the chairmanship of PML-F chief Pir Pagara.
A 10-member steering committee comprising Hamid Nasir Chattha, Salim Saifullah, Sadruddin Shah Rashdi, Ijazul Haq, Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmood, Shaikh Rashid Ahmed, Humayun Akhtar and Jahangir Tareen was also formed on the occasion.
Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali will be the committee’s convener and Imtiaz Shaikh will be the coordinator. The committee will plan the structure, organisation, policies and programmes of the MML and present proposals to the alliance’s president, Pir Pagara, for a final approval. The body will also contact all other factions of the PML to convince them to join the alliance.
Sources said a delegation of former president Pervez Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League, led by Rashid Qureshi, also attended the meeting on Thursday night, but they were not invited to the formal meeting on Friday.
Following the meeting, MML President Pir Pagara clarified that despite the formation of the alliance, his party, the PML-F, would not quit the coalition government in the Centre or Sindh.
Pagara said that he is not worried about who joins the alliance or not. “If someone agrees to join us, he is welcome to do so and if not, we won’t force him,” he said. Pagara said the PML leaders had joined hands as they were struggling for their survival.
“The current conditions have forced the leadership of the PML factions to unite,” he said, but clarified that “every party that is part of the alliance will exist in its original state”. The MML chief said that a ‘one man show’ was necessary in 1977, but not today. “Feedback and guidance must be taken from everyone.”
Addressing the meeting earlier, PML-Z chief Ejazul Haq said the problems “confronted by the nation are the reason that the PML is uniting”. Former Punjab governor Mian Muhammad Azhar said the performance and the popularity graph of those claiming to be champions of democracy was declining.
He said the PML-Q must be invited to join the alliance. Saleem Saifullah said the PML was not uniting for the sake of the establishment or power. “Other PML factions must not make it an ego issue.”
Khursheed Mehmood Kasoori said Pagara was selected for the MML leadership because he was an uncontroversial figure among all factions of the PML. Shaikh Rashid said people of Pakistan have been betrayed, and there was a need to reach out to them.
