In retaliation to efforts being made by the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) to win back its dissidents, the Unification Bloc, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif hosted a dinner in honour of the bloc’s members on Monday.
Sources privy to the development told Pakistan Today that Shahbaz’s dinner-cum-meeting with the Unification Bloc members was initially arranged at 90 Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, but the venue was later changed to the CM’s Office on 7-Club Road. They said Khwaja Ahmed Hassan arranged the meeting on directions of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in the wake of reports that almost 20 PML-Q dissidents had contacted the Chaudhrys after the PML-Q joined the federal cabinet.
The sources said the PML-N was working on war footing to block the Unification Bloc members from rejoining the mother party and the meeting was arranged to listen to the grievances of bloc members. The sources claimed that 44 of the 46 Unification Bloc members had been regularly attending the PML-N-Unification Bloc meetings, while Pakistan Today sources said only 13 members had attended the meetings.
Prominent among the participants were Atta Maneka, Ghulam Jaffar Sargana, Rana Ejaz Ahmad Noon, Ejaz Shafi, Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath, Mehdi Abbass Khan, Ahmed Khan Baloch, Amir Hayat Hiraj, Malik Ahmed Yar Hunjra, Imran Qureshi, Rafiud Din Bukhari, Iftikhar Hussain and Jawad Kamran. Unification Bloc member Saba Sadiq said the meeting was called on a divisional basis, “that’s why only 13 members of the bloc had met Shahbaz.”
The sources said the Punjab CM offered provincial ministries to the bloc’s members, saying he wanted them to become a part of his cabinet. However, the matter has been delayed until the return of Dr Tahir Ali Javaid. The Unification Bloc assured Shahbaz of their unconditional support, the sources said, adding that rumours regarding the bloc members’ return to the PML-Q remained the focus of the discussion and it was decided that regular meetings of the bloc members and the PML-N leadership would be held to avert any chances of its disintegration.
The sources added that Atta Manika and other bloc members expressed their anger and annoyance over the lack of coordination and contact between the two sides, upon which Shahbaz directed Hassan to report about the bloc’s issue on a daily basis. The matter of disqualification of nine Unification Bloc members was also taken up and the consequences of biased decisions by the Election Commission were also discussed seriously. Maneka suggested the bloc’s members challenge the Election Commission.
He was of the view that the Supreme Court had already ruled that there was no Election Commission in Pakistan and they must challenge the authority of the commission to avert the possible disqualification of Unification Bloc members.
