APML city chief quits over failed rally

Sunday’s almost unsuccessful public meeting organised by the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) has prompted the party’s Karachi president to quit, The News learnt on Monday.

Ahmed Hussain’s resignation has been forwarded to APML founder Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in Dubai for his approval, said a source, adding that it might take a couple of days to settle the matter because party leaders were mulling over it.

APML had arranged a public gathering at the Liaquatabad flyover, where the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) had held their respective meetings in the recent months to demonstrate their strength. But APML failed to attract a substantial number of people.

“Ahmed Hussain was criticised for his policies that led to the failure of the event,” said the source, describing that the issues pertained to giving responsibilities to politically inexperienced people within the party.

The turnout was rather low than expected, he said, because those who were tasked with bringing certain people to the event failed to do so. This escalated an ongoing trade of barbs within the party, he added.

A larger portion of the flyover where the public meeting was held was empty until the event’s end. To hide the vacant chairs from the news cameras, the organisers had turned off some of the lights. Meanwhile, it seemed that the party had overcrowded its team of volunteers.

An activist of APML’s student wing, which was dissolved a few months ago over allegations of corruption, lamented that the top leadership was not handling the party’s affairs amicably and would fall to the rumours.

Like in PSP, a significant number of workers in APML were previously affiliated with other parties, mostly with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, so the party apparently faces challenges in brining those people together as they prefer to work in groups.

The News tried reaching Ahmed Hussain and APML’s information official, Muhammad Ali Sherwani, for their comments, but they did not respond despite repeated attempts. In a statement released to the media later in the day, Sherwani said Musharraf had rejected Hussain’s resignation and told him to continue working as the party’s Karachi president. He added that the APML chief had summoned Hussain to Dubai for a meeting and he was likely to fly out in a couple of days.