Nawaz Sharif's party on verge of split

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, AUG. 26. The Pakistan Muslim League headed by the former Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, is on the verge of a split with a section of the party leaders openly revolting against the leadership of Mr. Sharif.

Two senior leaders of the party, Mian Muhhamad Azar and Chaudhary Sujaat Hussain, have declared that Mr. Nawaz Sharif could no longer continue as the party chief in the wake of the ordinance promulgated by the military government barring `corrupt' persons from holding party posts.

Mr. Sharif, who is behind the bars on a variety of charges, has been convicted on charges of `plane hijack' and terrorism by a court in Karachi and on charges of corruption in the `helicopter case' by another case. While an appeal against the court verdict in the hijack is pending, Mr. Sharif has chosen not to contest his conviction in the corruption case.

Contention of PML rebels is that party under the leadership of Mr. Sharif has become the personal property of Sharif household. They are agitated over the `extra- constitutional' role of Ms. Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of the former Prime Minister, in the party affairs. They content that though she is not even an ordinary member of the party, she has taken total control of the organisation and has chosen a confrontationist attitude against the military government to detriment of the long-term interests of the PML. The fact that Sharif detractors have decided to rake up the leadership question even after the PML Parliamentary Party and Working Committee on July 31 reposed faith in Mr. Sharif shows that the differences between the rival factions have reached a point of no return.

The immediate provocation for the rebels to launch a fresh offensive against the beleaguered former Prime Minister could be the show of strength organised by the Sharif faction in the Punjab province on Thursday. Chaudhary Sujaat Hussain had every reason to be unhappy over the conclave of party members of the suspended Punjab Provincial Assembly organised in Lahore. The organisers did not even bother to invite the two rebel leaders for the meeting and thus provoked them to hit out at Mr. Sharif.

All indications that it is a matter of days before the two leaders formally part ways with the parent party. All the while the rebels in the PML were waiting to see the response of the rank and file to various charges levelled against the former Prime Minister by the military regime.

Contrary to their expectations, majority chose to side with Mr. Sharif and this was evident in the show of solidarity at the party meetings in Islamabad on July 31.

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