Reluctant PML-N dims grand alliance hope

PML-N central leadership unhappy over inclusion of Musharraf's party in alliance, also wants reconciliation policy with PPP to continue

Karachi

The bid to form a grand political alliance against the Pakistan People's Party in Sindh suffered a setback on Friday when the ruling party in the Centre, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, expressed  its reservations over attending a meeting on Saturday (today) called at the Kingri House by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional chief Pir Pagara.

A closed-door meeting was held at the PML-N secretariat on Friday presided over by its provincial leader Ismail Rahu to discuss whether or not the party should attend Saturday’s meeting.

The PML-N central leadership is unhappy over the inclusion of the All Pakistan Muslim league headed by former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in the alliance.

PML-N sources said the party had agreed to attend the meeting with certain reservations but the decision to become part of the alliance would be made later. Other sources told The News that apart from the reservations over Musharraf's party in the alliance, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif also wanted to continue its policy of reconciliation with the PPP and was reluctant to be part of an alliance against it.

Rifts within

There are also rifts over the issue within the party's provincial leadership. The party's provincial president Ismail Rahu has sharp differences with general secretary  Nihal Hashmi over how the party should proceed.

Hashmi's absence from Friday's meeting at the PML-N secretariat indicated that the party's leaders had failed to reach a consensus on the issue of attending the meeting.

Meeting agenda

The agenda for Saturday’s meeting is to form a coordinating committee which will deal with daily affairs and formalise the alliance's manifesto with the mutual consent of all member parties.

In this connection, a second sitting of political leaders will be held at the Kingri House. The first sitting was held at the Jatoi House.

Similar meetings have been held earlier to unify the factions of Muslims League at the homes of former chief ministers Liaquat Jatoi and Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim but nothing noteworthy had come out of them.

Opposition leaders including PML-F's  Sadruddin Shah Rashdi, four former chief ministers of the province   Ghous Ali Shah, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Mumtaz Bhutto, and Liaquat Ali Jatoi, political secretary of late Benazir Bhutto Naheed Khan and her husband Safdar Abbasi, former home minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, Ayaz Latif Palejo of the Qaumi Awami Tehreek, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Nadir Akmal Leghari, MPA Haji Shafi Jamote, Tandho Allahyar's former nazim Rahila Magsi, and Jalal Mehmood Shah of the Sindh United Party will attend the meeting, said Naeem-ur-Rehman, Special Assistant to Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi.

He added that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement would also be taken on board

He said political parties would unite under the leadership of Pir Pagara for a prosperous Sindh and a peaceful Pakistan.