Sharif will continue as party chief: PML

By Amit Baruah

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 10. Staving off a stiff challenge to the jailed former Prime Minister's leadership of the PML(N), a joint session of the Muslim League's party and parliamentary luminaries has resolved that Mr. Nawaz Sharif continue as party chief.

In what appears a deft manoeuvring by Mr. Sharif's wife, Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, the party leadership reposed confidence in his leadership and fully supported a ``demand'' that he continue as party president.

Those opposed his continuance have complained that yesterday's party meeting was not conducted in a democratic manner and they did not have an opportunity to express their views. Mian Azhar, Mr. Wasim Sajjad, Begum Abida Hussain, Mr. Fakhar Imam and Mr. Abdul Sattar Laleka left half-way through the meeting.

Apart from Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, who has shown interest in trying to ``save'' her husband, Raja Zafar-ul-Haq, former leader of the party in the Senate, has emerged as a kind of consensus point man in an organisation which has hundreds of leaders but few workers. Addressing a press conference after the meeting last night, Mr. Haq said Mr. Sharif would continue as party president and that there was no doubt.

By successfully using the occasion yesterday, Begum Kulsoom Nawaz has ensured that Mr. Sharif will continue as party chief until the appeals are decided in the plane hijacking case. A trial court awarded him life sentence on April 6.

The party, which passed several resolutions, held that the ``trial of Mr. Nawaz Sharif in the anti-terrorism court was throughout dominated by the long shadows of military rule.''

``The meeting, therefore, records its disappointment and concern over the award of such unfair and harsh punishment to an elected Prime Minister. It also expresses the hope that Mr. Nawaz Sharif will receive full justice in the higher courts.''

The party said there was a systematic campaign to ``damage the reputation and image of politicians as a whole in order to justify the military take over... the military Government cannot introduce so-called true democracy through unilateral decisions... it should discontinue this malicious and unwarranted campaign forthwith because a healthy democratic system can evolve only through political parties and political activity.''

Referring to the ``isolation'' of Pakistan, the party stated this was because an elected Government was removed by force. ``Even countries like Turkey and Malaysia ... have told the Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in no uncertain terms that political and economic relations can resume their normal course only if he announced... the restoration of democracy in Pakistan.''

``The most serious setback to Pakistan's vital national interests has been missing out on a historic opportunity which had arisen on the occasion of the U.S. President's visit to South Asia to meaningfully address the long-standing dispute of Kashmir as promised by him on July 4, 1999, in the joint press statement after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's meeting with him in Washington...'' the resolution stated.

The PML(N) also called upon the military rulers to ``stop misleading the nation in the name of so-called reforms and in the expectation of an economic revival, of which there is little prospect and announce a return to democratic Government without any further delay.''

Sharif's wife says no to politics

PTI reports:

Begum Kulsoom Nawaz has said she does not want to join politics and is not desirous of getting any party office. ``I don't need any office. I don't want to join politics,'' she told reporters here yesterday.

``The party workers are assets of the PML. I am just a commonplace worker,'' she added.

Stating she had been contacting party workers on Mr. Sharif's order, she promised to abide by all party decisions.

The News, a leading daily paper had quoted Begum Kulsoom Nawaz as saying in October that ``it is impossible for us to either leave the country or give up politics''.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Return to democracy, France tells Pak.
Next     : Excessive reliance on Aminullah's evidence