Bid to form new political party of all PML factions

Islamabad: Formation of new political party or political alliance comprising various factions of leaguers and political group of former military dictator Pervez Musharraf is still in the ‘embryonic stage.’
All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) Secretary Information Aasia Ishaq told this correspondent that talks were under way to unite all leaguers at one platform and recently some important developments had taken place in this respect.
“On the basis of some new developments I can say that the people will hear big news after Eid about unification of various factions of the Muslim leagues. Pervez Musharraf still has the charisma to get the popular vote in any parliamentary polls,” she said.
PML-Q’s Senator Kamil Ali Agha told The News that they had held various meetings with the political leaders and discussed the proposal of formation of new party or alliance but ‘I can say no significant progress has been made so far and the process is still in the initial stage.”
“It is really a daunting task to unite all factions of leaguers at one platform because everyone has its own political goals and agendas. But we are trying to set some common goals that would help us get together at a single platform,” he said.
When contacted, Federal Minister and PML-F’ leader Pir Syed Sadaruddin Shah Rashidi said that unification of factions of the Muslim leagues could not be completed without ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) because it has the largest support base among the people. “When you talk about unification of various factions of Muslim leagues then you cannot ignore PML-N because it is the largest party in the country. Even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on number of occasions in the past stated that he also wanted unification of all factions so we must take him into confidence in this respect,” he said.
He said that it was quite clear that any faction of the Muslim league that would perform better in the upcoming local government elections in Sindh and Punjab should have leadership role in the upcoming party or alliance.
To a question, he said majority of factions of the Muslim league were in Punjab so Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain should work to get them united otherwise it would be highly difficult to talk about formation of new party or alliance.
Talking to The News, veteran politician Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa said that Syed Ghous Ali Shah had left Pakistan to perform Umra so talks about unification of different factions of Muslim leagues would resume after Eidul Fitr.
To a question, he said Pir Pigara could have his own viewpoint but he did not think that PML-N would be approached as part of the unification efforts because Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was responsible for splits in the Muslim league.