PML-Q finally splits

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Dissidents form parallel party set up, appoint Chattha chairman, Saifullah president, Humayun secretary general
* Form committee to hold party polls within a year

By Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: A yearlong internal strife produced a division of the Pakistan-Muslim League-Quaid on Thursday as dissidents – who previously identified themselves as a “like minded-group” – parted ways with the Chaudhrys of Gujrat to install a parallel party set up.

At a convention – dubbed a meeting of the general council, the electoral college for intra-party polls – the group passed unanimous resolutions to appoint Hamid Nasir Chattha chairman, Salim Saifullah Khan president and Humayun Akhtar Khan secretary general for an interim period of one year. Azim Chaudhry read out the resolutions, and the gathering adopted them through a voice vote. In another resolution, the convention declared last month’s party polls “null and void”. The resolution restored the offices of chairman, organisers and chief organisers.

The meeting also announced the formation of a steering committee – headed by Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri – with the mandate to hold party polls within one year and reorganise the party at the grassroots. Although a number of PML-Q leaders from all provinces attended the convention, several others not in agreement with the Chaudhrys stayed away. Instead of announcing a separate party or a new faction, the group said it was the “real PML-Q ... the leadership elected last month is illegitimate”.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg1_12