Shujaat Hussain, dissidents fail to reconcile

A major reconciliation attempt between the dissidents in the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and its President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain failed on Wednesday as a group led by Hamid Nasir Chattha accused Shujaat of going back on commitments.

Senior PML-Q leaders including Chattha, Saleem Saifullah and Humayun Saifullah met Shujaat, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Kamil Ali Agha at Shujaat’s residence on Wednesday.

“Instead of bringing the two sides closer, the meeting complicated the issues further,” a source privy to the meeting told Daily Times. The dissidents asked Shujaat to resign because he had gone back on his promise to form a committee to resolve party issues, the sources said, and criticised Elahi for making statements against them. The dissidents have now decided in principle to form a separate group led by Chattha, the sources added.

Not eligible: Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Chattha said Shujaat was not eligible to contest the next party elections. He added that his group would attend the forthcoming PML-Q Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting ‘to present our point of view’. “We do not want to harm the party,” he said.

During a separate press conference, Kamil Ali Agha said party regulations did not stop anyone from contesting the election for a third term. “Decision of a large party like the PML-Q will not be made in drawing rooms,” he said. Agha accompanied Pervaiz Elahi who also spoke to reporters.

List: Chattha said he had handed over a list of dissident party members to Shujaat, some of whom he said wanted to join hands with the Pakistan People’s Party and others with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

He said the recent presidential elections proved the PML-Q leadership’s ineffectiveness, as the party’s candidate did not even get the votes of its own members. He also criticised Elahi for ‘taking over’ the party’s affairs.

Elections: Elahi said during his press conference that the party elections would be held on schedule and everyone including him was eligible to run for party president. The matter of leadership would be decided in the party’s CEC meeting, he added.

He said he had no differences with anyone and would take everyone along. “I will remove everyone’s reservations.” To a question, he said dissidents of the party “should be asked who is behind them”. To another question, he denied making contact with former president Pervez Musharraf.

Talking to reporters outside the Paliament House, dissident PML-Q leader Riaz Fatiyana urged Shujaat to quit as party chief ‘to keep the PML-Q intact’.

He said party leaders and workers from across the country wanted a change in the party’s leadership, and claimed that his group had the support of 95 percent of PML-Q parliamentarians.

“It would be better if the party leadership steps down and holds snap party polls so that the PML-Q could be kept intact and active,” he said.

“The party polls should be held ahead of schedule as 85 of the 92 PML-Q parliamentarians want a change in party leadership. Not only is it in party interest but also better for the political future of the Chaudhrys,” Fatiyana said.

He said party leaders were not against the Chaudhrys but were annoyed with their political gimmicks and policies.

“Due to these policies, the party lost elections in Punjab while we gained more seats in Balochistan, Sindh and even in the NWFP,” he added.

Fatiyana said Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had failed as an opposition leader in the National Assembly, adding that the party was not a family property and every leader had the right to contribute to the PML-Q. He denied he was leading a PML-Q forward bloc and said, “We are in majority and not a minority in the party.”