PML in search of Nawaz alternative

By Our Monitoring Desk
The statement by Ejazul Haq, leader of the like-minded group of the PML, that the party will soon be reunited shows that secret deliberations are under way in order to seek a better alternative of Nawaz Sharif as the President of the united PML said Radio Tehran on Thursday.
The anti-Nawaz PML leaders have refused to accept the nomination of Javed Hashmi as the Acting President of the party while arguing that the PML (N) has flown to Saudi Arabia along with Nawaz Sharif.
Ejazul Haq has claimed that all the obstacles in the way of reuniting the PML have been removed and the party would soon be united. The Radio, however, said the rejection of Hashmi's nomination by senior PML leaders suggests that there are still cracks in the PML which can only be removed when both factions of the PML come to agree on the same President other than Nawaz.
The Radio opined the differences in the PML and its struggle for the top slot may strengthen the PPP resulting in a change in Pakistan's political scenario. The observers say there is also a possibility that the PML leadership may bow before the present military govenrment to restore party's lost image.
The alliance between the PPP and the PML seems to come to an end, the Radio said.
The Radio further said the supporters of Nawaz Sharif have started leaving him after his exile and dozens of former parliamentarians and other party leaders met Ch Shujaat Hussain and Ch Pervez Illahi at the latter's residence in Lahore on Thursday, while giving assurance of their full cooperation to them, the Radio reported.
The leaders of like-minded PML groups including Ejazul Haq and Humayun Akhtar also called on Ch Shujaat and Mian Azhar and suggested to appoint a new Acting President in order to keep the party intact.
Some political observers say the political activities of the Chaudharys can be a prelude to a new political set-up in the country. "It, however,r seems that Chaudhrys have won the favour of the present military regime," Radio Tehran observed.
Meanwhile, PML senior leader and former Interior Minister, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said that former PM Nawaz Sharif was allowed to leave the country following a clandestine deal with the present military government and this move by Nawaz has frustrated the partymen.
In an interview with Radio Tehran on Thursday, Ch Shujaat Hussain maintained the talks between the Sharif family and the government had been taking place for the past two or three months but, he regretted, Nawaz did not take the party leadership into confidence on the matter.
He further said that Nawaz was making new appointments in the party at the same time when "he was holding talks with the present military rulers for striking a deal to leave the country." "The decision by such a leader of party who once had two-thirds majority in Parliament and was enjoying support of PML also and that too without taking anyone into confidence has disappointed party leaders and workers," he said.
By joining the fold of Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), Ch Shujaat said, Nawaz Sharif has mortgaged the PML to PPP which is "our bitter political rival."